Chemical Equation From An Objective Point Of View
by Tozette
Summary: The cliche. Rewritten for your dubious reading pleasure. Tenten has one week to find a boyfriend who matches her mother's criteria or she'll have to give up being a kunoichi and marry some country bumpkin.
1. Uh, me?

Disclaimer: The manga/anime series, "Naruto" and any and all characters or place names pertaining thereto are the sole property of the creator and associated persons. The author of this story does not claim or aspire to own any of these. Any thoughts or opinions expressed by the characters in this piece of fanwork do not necessarily reflect those of the author or of the creator of the original series.

Thank you.

**Ch: 1.**

The training ritual always stayed the same. The moves were always different, of course, but the feeling was the same. They met, they tested their strength, they offered criticism, they showed their improvement, they ran out of useful negative emotions and left.

Lately, that had become a comfort to Tenten. With the world around her changing so rapidly, it was nice to know, or at least believe, that Neji hadn't changed. Not in any important way, at least. He'd become a chuunin, of course – that was never in question – but so had she. It might have been easier to say that, although they changed, the change did not affect the relationship.

Today, she was going to change it.

It might, perhaps, be easier if we move back a few short hours, when Tenten had been speaking with her mother. Ever since her father had died fighting the Kyuubi, her mother had held on tight to her daughter, panicking at every mention of the word 'mission', or, gods forbid, 'chuunin exam'.

Tenten suspected that this was another plot to make her give up her 'tomboyish' lifestyle and become a 'real woman'. She suspected. Her mother might really have lost her mind and decided to destroy any hope her fifteen-year old daughter had for her life.

"... Mama..." She protested weakly after listening to her mother's demand. "You don't really mean to see me married before the end of the year. You're just... overreacting to something you've heard, or read, or... something, right?" Or this was some sick, twisted joke.

"Now, Tenten," Her mother began. Tenten had a moment to appreciate the irony of her mother's condescension considering the situation. Her appreciation was lessened by the immediate threat, however. "I know this is a hard idea for a young girl, so used to living in the present," When you were a good kunoichi, that was how you thought. There was no other choice. "But... you're an only child, darling."

"I am aware." Tenten replied.

Her mother flushed slightly, but soldiered on. "I just can't stand the thought of my blood fading from the world as thought it was never there. I know that, left to your own devices, you would never marry. So I've arranged for you to meet Ishin-san tomorrow. He's... well, he's..."

"He's what?" Tenten prompted, doing her very best Neji impersonation. It worked.

"He's going to be your husband, dear."

The chair clattered to the floor in the ensuing silence and there was a loud _thump_ as Tenten's hands met the sturdy wood of the table.

"What? You have no right to do this." She announced coldly even as her breath fluttered like a panicked bird in her throat.

Her mother touched her face, stroking along her cheek. "Oh, honey, I know it seems unfair now, but it won't be that bad, you'll see. You'll get married, have a few children and... you'll never have to do any of that fighting again. You won't get hurt anymore." Her other hand came up and gripped her daughter's face tightly.

Tenten slapped at the invasive touch. The last thing she wanted with the twisting feeling in her gut was the façade of understanding.

She'd have a few kids. Spend the rest of her life barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen trying to take care of them. With _Ishin-san_.

"You know, kunoichi have been trying to battle the notion that a woman is just a glorified brood-sow for generations." She said quietly. Her mother sighed.

"I know, darling. But it really isn't a woman's place to be out working among the men like that."

"_Not a woman's place_?" Tenten repeated furiously. "It is the place women have been working towards for _centuries_. How can you say that all the women before you have been wrong?"

Her mother scowled. "It's high time you gave up this childish posturing, anyway. You'll meet Ishin-san, and, if he finds you agreeable, you _will_ marry, and you _will_ bear his children."

Tenten thought fast. It was the thing that helped her gain the advantage on the battlefield. "And what if I already have a boyfriend? What will he say?"

Her mother's eyes narrowed. "You don't have a boyfriend, Tenten."

_Oh, I will. If it puts a stop to this, believe me, I will._ "If I did?"

Her mother's lips pressed together. "Well, then, I'd have to meet him, and decide if he would be better for you than Ishin-san."

Hope swelled inside her twisted insides; it was a fluttering, fragile creature. There was a loophole here.

Tenten swallowed. "And when would you meet him?" she asked, hoping her mother wouldn't give her an impossible time slot.

"The weekend. I have to work the week, but if you had a boyfriend, it would have to be the weekend." Lucky it was Tuesday. "Of course, since you don't have a boyfriend, it's a moot point."

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "Give me until the weekend to find a boyfriend. If, by that time, I'm in a healthy, working relationship, give up. In exchange, I'll promise to behave when I meet... _Ishin-san_."

Her mother sighed, considering it. There was no way an adolescent could possibly manage to form a healthy relationship with a boy in four days and particularly not one as work-oriented as Tenten. She'd gain her cooperation, though. "Alright. If you're in a relationship that I think has better prospects for your future than your marriage to Ishin-san by the end of the week, I'll leave you to your own devices. Really, darling, I only want what's best for my baby."

Tenten sighed, knowing that her mother wouldn't do something she thought was wrong for her and becoming even more worried. She shook on it and left.

How hard would it be to find someone to be her boyfriend for a week? Well, okay, someone acceptable, so not Lee. Not Naruto, either. Or Chouji, since her mother didn't like the Akimichi clan – something about a high-fat, high-salt diet leading to an early heart-attack, and, good heavens, wasn't the world dangerous enough? Shikamaru? Well, he was a twelve-year old Chuunin, a known genius, and he was a part of a clan of good repute. But her mother always proclaimed the impracticality of spending the day not doing anything productive. That might be a problem. Laziness was not something her mother would put up with. And Tenten's father had played go, so it was out, anyway.

Maybe Kiba... no, the Inuzuka clan didn't exactly have a clean slate where drinking, gambling and nasty bouts of fleas were concerned. The Aburame clan was Right Out for obvious reasons, although she'd have loved to make her mother squirm like that. Who else was there? Uchiha Sasuke? She well-recalled the loud diatribe her mother had given on evil, cowardly turncoats when the town's favourite little ball of angst had run away. Sasuke was overrated, anyway.

But, there was nobody else. _Nobody_ else. She was pretty sure her mother wouldn't mind an older man, knowing her traditionalist ideals. Gai-sensei was out. Kakashi was an open and well-known pervert. Asuma smoked – an unforgivable sin. It was a pity that she'd never once spoken to Kotetsu or Izumi. Of course, since they were usually so wrapped up in each other, she wouldn't have gotten a word inside their love-struck barrier anyway. Genma drank like a fish. Iruka-sensei was not going to be of any help, unless she desperately needed advice. Actually, she was getting to that state.

Well, there was always Jiraiya. She was sure she could offer to be his muse and he'd find some way to rescue her... drag her up into the mountains with him and grope her, but she wasn't sure how desperate she was. She frowned and balled her fists, the hard, trapped feeling in her stomach and chest rising.

She looked up at the sky. Neji was going to be annoyed; she was lat –

Neji.

Neji.

_**Neji! **_

Her saving grace. Her guardian angel! He didn't smoke. He didn't drink. He wasn't a traitor to the country. He worked hard. He was not a total pervert. He didn't have millions of bugs using his body as a nest. His fashion sense was not utterly ridiculous and she was sure he had manners under there somewhere. If he had a high-fat, high-salt diet, it didn't show in his 17.3 body mass index.

In short, he was her last hope.

He was even attractive.

As she realised who she was talking about, she realised she was doomed.

"You're late."

And she'd reached her destination.

Across the clearing from her stood her fate. With clear, cold eyes and white skin and inky hair he stood under the luminous overcast sky. In that light, he looked like he was made from stone. She knew, from the blind fits of rage and the silent, tense moodiness she'd witnessed over the past five years, that he was not.

She held up a hand and smiled her usual cheerful smile. "I have an excuse," she protested. His eyes narrowed. Either her smile wasn't cheerful enough, or he'd suddenly begun to care about her excuses.

Taking the change in expression for interest, Tenten decided that now would be a good time to present her case. If there was a good time.

"I'm going to be a baby-making machine for some guy I don't know." She continued flatly. That... didn't sound right. Neji's posture shifted slightly from hostile to curious. Regardless of how it came out, it had a good effect.

Tenten swallowed and moved closer to him so she didn't have to raise her voice so much. "That didn't come out quite right," She admitted. He raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly. "Mother... wants me to get married by the end of the year. I'm meeting my... husband-to-be tomorrow." She waited for a reaction.

Neji inclined his head slightly to show he understood. It was one of his most appealing traits. He always understood what she was saying and still never overreacted.

"She wants me to quit being a kunoichi." Neji's eyes narrowed further and a faint frown line appeared on his forehead. Maybe he _was_ going to overreact. "But, I made her a deal," she continued. "If I can find an acceptable boyfriend to bring to lunch on Saturday, she'll leave me to my own – and his – devices."

Neji nodded. He took a breath to speak and for a moment she thought that he might be about to volunteer and that she was saved. Saved! "... Good luck, then." He said with unusual compassion. Her heart sloshed mushily inside her stomach. "What do you want to try first?" He turned away and began to walk a little deeper into the forest.

_Oh, that selfish, egotistic..! _She supposed she hadn't given any clues, exactly, to what she wanted, but, still, the _nerve_... She took a deep breath. If she attacked this, she'd have no chance.

"Neji?"

He stopped and half-turned to face her.

"Neji... you don't understand," Which was probably the wrong thing to say, but he didn't look like he'd taken offence yet, "You're the only acceptable boy I know."

There was a cool silence. "No."

It was kind of funny, Tenten thought, how one word could kill all hope inside of you. It was kind of funny how she'd gone to Neji, the one person she knew who could scent out vulnerability and attack it mercilessly.

She swallowed. It was very cold. She'd known it was a long shot, known he wouldn't agree, but the slim chance that he might have allowed her to be calmer about the situation. Now that she knew that her life's blood, sweat and tears was wasted on a body and mind that would never live up to its potential, she wanted to run. Run and run and run until she was pure wind and she'd never have to think or feel again.

How had he cut her so deeply with one word?

"I... I need to go." She said. Even to her, her voice sounded strange, like it belonged to someone else.


	2. Romance and the Mockery Thereof

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thank you.

**Ch: 2.**

Neji watched her retreating form silently. Her voice had changed until it was high-pitched with a tangible edge of blind panic in it. Her expression when he'd said it had been the epitome of terror.

Hissing _"Byakugan"_, he turned towards the nearest tree and began to methodically destroy it.

_Should I have done it?_

The trees did not prove to be very entertaining opponents. The sharp, fluid movements of the Gentle Fist were somehow soothing. He was almost perfectly calm when the thought struck him that Tenten would probably never watch him do it and make fun of him for poking his opponents to death. The next four trees fell with no grace, no style, and certainly no martial artistry. At the fifth, the traditional style reasserted itself and he began the long process again.

He didn't leave until well past nightfall. The streets of the Hidden Leaf were cold and empty after dark, with only the creaking of a hanging wooden sign and the occasional patrol breaking the silence. His footsteps made no noise and no mark.

When he was home once again, he didn't enter through the main gates, but jumped the surrounding wall to get into the grounds.

Since the hot water had been used, bathing was an unpleasant affair. He sat naked beside the bath and tried to scrub the dirt and grime from his skin until it went pinkish. Dropping the bathing utensils carelessly he stepped into the icy cold water, feeling his skin tighten at its touch. He rinsed himself with only half a mind, wondering why he felt so restless.

The walk to his room was long and he managed to bump into both Hinata and Hiashi on the way there. The room itself was furnished with an unadorned wooden bed, a bedside table and a large desk. The walls were a grey not dissimilar to his eyes and upon one of them hung a simple, plain-framed mirror. He looked into it for a moment.

Something about the image left him dissatisfied and his lips curled into a snarl. He balled his hands into fists. He refused to believe that Tenten's problems could possibly affect him like this. But... just in case, he thought the situation over, trying to be objective about it.

They would certainly still see each other, just not as much. She'd have a husband. What if he was overprotective about her seeing men? Some were. Would he see her? Tenten would not do missions. He didn't always do them with her anymore, but she was a good, strong-willed partner who had what few skills he was lacking. He would miss that. They wouldn't train anymore. Actually, she'd probably never use her techniques again.

... She'd have some bastard's kids to take care of for the rest of her life. She'd hate it. She'd be what she worked against. She'd walk through her entire life like she was faintly oxygen deprived, trapped, caught in someone else's image of her.

He blinked and jumped back as his image in the mirror shattered. The sharp pain in his hand informed him that there was some glass embedded there. He got it out with the skill of practise and didn't bother to clean up.

It had to be past midnight.

She stared up at the ceiling, thinking feverishly. This was her home. Her bed. Her body. She'd never felt so out of control of the things she owned before. She had only three more years until independence was hers. Perhaps she could get rid of _him_ at that time. Or perhaps by then she'd be so, so... _changed_... that she'd tell him she'd once thought of it and laugh. Was that it? Was she scared that she'd loose control of herself next?

_Tap_, _tap_.

Was it already starting? "Who's that tapping at my chamber door?" She mumbled to herself, rolling over. She didn't need a stupid bird to tell her anything.

_Tap, tap._

That sounded awfully realistic for an imaginary raven. And why was it at her window? Wasn't it supposed to be waiting at her door to taunt her about the lost piece of herself?

_Tap, tap._

She raised her head and looked out the window, finally, frustrated. The moonlight made Neji's hair look pretty, she thought groggily before sitting bolt upright, wide awake.

"_Neji?_" She hissed, slipping out of bed. Her raven was _Neji_? There were _so_ many things wrong with that.

There was a knock at the door.

"Honey, are you alright?" She shook herself. What was wrong with her? Tenten managed a false smile for her own sake.

"Uh, sure. Just thinking aloud."

"Oh, well... okay. I'm going to bed, darling." Tenten breathed a sigh of relief.

"Goodnight." She replied. Footsteps faded. She stalked across the room in only her oversized tee-shirt and jerked the window open.

Neji was no longer there, but she knew where he'd disappeared. She balanced on the windowsill and made a leap for the piping. Catching onto it, she climbed it without chakra so that there was nothing to detect. Her mother wouldn't, but there were a few ninjas on patrol, and she didn't want anybody noticing her running around on rooftops half-dressed in the middle of the night.

He was sitting on her roof, watching her as she leapt nimbly over the drain and made her way to the peak of the a-frame where he sat, gripping the tiles with her toes. "What," She asked incredulously as she sat next to him, hugging herself, "are you doing on my roof at one in the morning?"

He looked at her for a long, long moment. She thought he wasn't going to answer. He looked... uncertain, although she knew that wasn't possible. He wasn't uncertain if he'd come all the way out here to talk.

"I'll do it." He said quietly, not looking at her. She slipped and would have fallen off the roof if he'd not caught her about the waist at the last second. She felt his chakra reattach them to the tiles.

She righted herself on the steep slope, still unbalanced enough that his arm didn't move from her waist for a long moment. She'd never been so aware of him in her life. That he was a strong, intelligent male and she was half-clothed on top of a roof in the cold wind. Somehow, the vulnerability didn't seem so important. It was with a start that she realised that years of trust made him simply Neji, no matter what else he was. She was comfortable with her vulnerability, aware that it was more than his and that he knew it. If anything, he'd be annoyed that it could be exploited.

"Tenten?" His voice was nowhere near gentle. He didn't have a gentle voice, as far as she knew, but it was the softest she'd ever heard it.

"Thank you," She whispered faintly. She stared at him for a few moments longer before throwing her arms around his shoulders in an enthusiastic hug.

They both fell off the roof.

She blinked and stared at his wide-eyed face as the grass came rushing towards them. And then it stopped with a jolt that jarred her bones. Neji was hanging from her windowsill by a few fingers. She sighed in relief. He pulled them up, which was harder than it sounds, and toppled them into her bedroom on the floor.

He landed on all fours on top of her, their faces even. She stared up at him for a moment and fought the sudden, irrational urge to wrap her arms around his neck and bring his face down to her. She shook her head and began to giggle hysterically. He scowled.

"Hilarious." He muttered, rising to his feet and offering her his hand. She stopped laughing and stared at it like she didn't know what to do with it.

He raised an eyebrow. She grasped it and let him help her to her feet. His skin was surprisingly soft for a shinobi. Hmmm... Vanity, Neji-kun?

She sat on her pillow and watched him. "You know what this entails, right?"

His eyebrow shifted upwards again. "I'll have to pretend to be your boyfriend for a week?" He asked. Well, she assumed he was asking. It didn't sound much like he was, but then... She gave up and went with her assumption

"Well, we'll have to make it really believable to fool my mother. We have three days to make it look right. Can... can we do that?" She asked. She'd wanted this, but she still wasn't sure it would work.

"Yes." He answered. She almost gave a sigh of relief, and then wanted to slap herself for acting so stupid. She didn't need _him_ to affirm it. She had to have confidence. Con-fi-dence! She'd been talking to Lee too much.

"I think we should spend more time together in public over the next few days, then, to get people used to seeing us together." Neji's back stiffened, but he nodded curtly. She sighed. "Great. I have to meet... my prospective husband," saying it made her queasy and Neji became even tenser. "Ishin-san, tomorrow. We should probably meet at some point in the afternoon."

Neji nodded again.

"Um... so, can you think of any problems?" She asked, sliding back under the covers to warm her goose bumps. He sat himself on the edge of the bed next to her.

"My family." He said, as though that explained everything. Sadly, it did. The Hyuugas were a very traditional, very formal family.

"So what do I have to look forward to from them?"

"Traditional dinner during which the father – or surrogate," His tone turned a little frosty, " –meets the spouse. Highly humiliating for all involved." He paused. "This must be why they kept it."

She grinned. He'd actually managed to make a joke. True, it was sarcastic and about his family, but she was sure it was a good thing. Or was this, the hand thing, the joke, an attempt to act like her boyfriend?

She sighed. "I bet they'll manage it before the week is out, too."

Neji nodded again and rose from the bed. When he reached the window again, he paused before turning back to her briefly and muttering, "Goodnight."

The following day was not nearly so pleasant. Tenten met Ishin-san.


	3. Awkward

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thank you.

**Ch: 3.**

The following day was not nearly so pleasant. Tenten met Ishin-san.

The young man and his father had made their way to Tenten's residence, where his father and her mother greeted each other like old friends and retreated elsewhere, leaving Tenten in the kitchen where she could 'get to know' her husband-to-be.

The first problem was that Ishin-san did not seem so horrible. She'd expected, no, wanted, Ishin to be ugly, ill-mannered and all-round mean. Instead, he was a medium-built, clean-shaven twenty-something with clear skin, short brown hair and hazel eyes. He spoke politely and he seemed to be genuinely sincere in the strange situation.

Haltingly, she made an attempt at offering him refreshments which was smilingly waved away. He gestured to a chair on the opposite side of the small table. She sat.

"This is, perhaps, not the way you would have wanted to meet your husband," He smiled. _Presumptuous, at least_, she thought, but smiled anyway.

"You're quite right. In fact, I find the whole ordeal to be a little bit..." She trailed off on the word 'ridiculous', recalling her promise to her mother.

"Painful? Strange? Limiting?" He prompted.

"Limiting," She decided finally. "Ishin-san," she paused. "What is it that you do?"

He smiled again, somewhat sheepishly. He sure seemed to have a hell of a lot of smiling to do. "I actually work on the farm." He answered.

_The **farm!**_ Alarm bells went off somewhere inside her head. "I see," She replied, mustering up a smile. "That's... hard work, I suppose?"

"Yes. Actually, it's good that you have so much experience with menial work, because I'll probably need a lot of help when dad... passes away." He mentioned with a far off look. "He's... not doing so well."

"I have a career." She informed him with no inflection and then wished she hadn't. "I mean... I'd be happy to, uh, help out when I could, but I'd really like to keep up with some of my own work... you understand, I'm sure." If there was a chance she was going to end up with him, she'd be better off to sweeten the deal.

He gave her a blank look. "But if you were away working, who would raise the children?" He asked.

It was sudden and totally unreasonable, but Tenten hated him. He was going to take away her career, take away her home, take away her freedom and stack on responsibilities and, she just knew, he was going to expect to be thanked for it. Children. At _fifteen_. Weren't there laws about that sort of thing?

"I see." She replied, hating the way her voice didn't feel like her own. Would her body eventually feel like that, too? "And... the children will work on the farm, right?" She asked flatly, waiting for the _thud_ as her head hit the table. It didn't come. It must still be vertical, she noted in wonderment. At least she'd get a chance to work with Neji later. If she got through this with a smile, she'd see Neji and they'd hammer things out and look like they were in the perfect, equality-based (_yeah, right, _said her brain) relationship.

Neji would never ask her to have his kids and expect her to raise them in the middle of nowhere to be farmers, at least. If he ever did have children, which she doubted, they'd probably be playing with kunai in the cradle and learning the basics of combat as soon as they could walk, which, for their sake had better be sooner than anybody _else's_ kids...

She wasn't sure if the thought of a bunch of white-eyed, scowling, pouting little Nejis toddling around made her want to giggle maniacally or leave her mind until it was a safer place.

She was jerked back into the real world.

"Of course! I'd need an eldest son to leave the farm to!" And he was off, telling her about the three-hundred generation history of his farm and how the harvest had gone every single year.

It was with great joy that she finally shut the door upon the backs of both men.

Sadly, this left her with her beaming mother, whom she could not face. "I'm going to get changed," She told her before retreating to her room.

"Why?" Her mother asked.

"I'm going out with some friends. Might as well enjoy city life for a little while," She replied snappishly from behind the door. Her mother sighed.

The girl would learn to adapt. It was for her own good.

Tenten had decided, while clinging to hope the previous night, that she'd have to dress up to meet Neji so that she'd look like she was really trying to impress him. She opened her clothes-chest and riffled around inside for a while, wondering why all her clothes were either totally practical – with many pockets and well-worn or bloodied material – or about six years old.

With an annoyed huff, she changed her pants to something black and a little tighter (she hadn't grown much in the past year, but the muscle she'd put on made them cling), found a somewhat lower top – it wasn't as low as something Ino or Sakura might wear in an attempt to catch Sasuke's attention, she comforted herself – and dug around until she found some higher shoes. She made sure she could walk in them easily before she decided on them.

She tucked her scrolls into her pockets, ignoring the way they made them bulge slightly, and managed to conceal a number of weapons even with the tighter clothing. She wasn't about to bother changing her hairstyle or anything totally obvious, so she forewent the hour-long trip to the bathroom she knew other girls partook of religiously.

She passed her mother in the hallway, who eyed her with a slight smile, "You're dressed up quite a bit for someone who's just going out with her friends."

Tenten didn't manage to swallow her sardonic answer. "Yeah, well, I'm pulling now, aren't I?" She asked. Her mother scowled.

The walk wasn't long, but she took her time. She was meeting Neji in the clearing that they usually used for training and then they were going to decide which public activity they were going to subject themselves to. Her feet knew the way, so she let her mind wander, excited about the impending 'date' despite herself. She'd never been on a date before, unless you counted feeding Lee... which she didn't.

She doubted Neji would have gotten dressed differently. In fact, she didn't think she'd be able to get him to hold her hand without some serious pleading. Sometimes the best way was just to bother him until he gave in. Maybe he'd be in a good mood and be cooperative. Maybe she could get him to take pity on her if she told him about Ishin-san's familial plans.

She reached the clearing annoyed to find that she was still early. Quietly, she settled herself onto a tree stump to wait for Neji.

"TENTEN!"

That was _definitely _not Neji. Damnit. "Good morning, Lee," She replied, shaking off his enthusiastic glomp.

"It's afternoon, Tenten. The time of the day is very important because –"

She nodded, smiled at him and cut him off. "Didn't you have a mission?" She asked.

He nodded. "But with perseverance and enthusiasm I overcame the obstacle of time and have returned to Konoha with two days to spare! I'm going to use them to work and train even harder!" He grinned manically.

"Enthusiasm, huh?" She asked, shaking her head.

He nodded, seating himself next to her. "What are you doing out here all by yourself? Are you training? Do you want he –"

"I'm waiting," She replied.

He frowned. "What for?"

She swallowed. Here it was. She'd tell Lee, and he'd tell Gai and she wouldn't swear either of them to secrecy and it'd be all over town tomorrow.

Neji's cool voice interrupted her with a vaguely non-hostile noise of greeting. She grinned and jumped up from her seat. "Hi! I was early," She explained "And Lee got back from his mission... also early."

Neji made a noise that might have been an attempt at an interested sound, but came out indifferent. She sighed and turned back to Lee.

"Neji." She said. Lee looked a little confused and Neji cocked an eyebrow at her. "I was waiting for Neji." She elaborated, wondering if Ino could teach her how to make herself blush.

Lee looked between her and his other once-time team mate. "I see." In some ways, she realised, he'd grown up a bit.

Neji came to stand beside her, looking a little bit stilted. She had to give him points for initiative, though. "Did you want to get something to eat?" She asked him, knowing he wouldn't ask. It was just too far out for him. Even were they a couple, he'd probably not show much affection. Not in public, anyway, she thought, and found her mind wandering down pathways best left alone.

"Yes." He answered. His voice sounded a lot more natural, even, even _warm_. Well, not warm. Maybe just... not cold. He seemed a little surprised by it, too.

She indicated with a movement of her head that they should move towards somewhere in the more populated area of the village. He turned and led the way until they'd left a very surprised Lee behind. She quickened her pace before falling into step with him. There was a long stretch of well-worn path before they got anywhere with people.

He was walking awfully fast, though. Tentatively, quite aware that he might choose to break it, she took his wrist in her hand. His head snapped up sharply. She made her worst attempt at a smile yet. How nervous could she possibly get? It wasn't like she'd never touched him before... true, it was usually in training or sometimes when he was bandaging her up or she was holding him back from killing someone important, but they'd still touched.

"Can we slow down?"

He did, relaxing a bit. After a few moments of incredibly tense silence during which she thought they'd never get anywhere and he stared intently in front of them, he spoke. "What, exactly, am I supposed to be doing?" He asked, sounding slightly frustrated.

"Just... act like a normal boyfriend." She replied, wondering if he really was so emotionally stunted that he couldn't even act like a warm-blooded human.

He glared at her, and she was aware that there was a message in that glare, but she wasn't sure if it meant, _I'm going to kill you_, or _don't humiliate me further._ After a long moment, he licked his lips – a strangely fascinating gesture. She wondered, but that was one of those pathways again and she drew her mind away. "So... how does a normal boyfriend act?" He asked pointedly.

_Eep._

She turned to him in surprise. "You mean... Don't you read or go to weddings or anything?" She asked.

His glare hadn't changed, but she got the feeling that he was doing it again, somehow. "I don't have time to read... _stories_... and, as you should know, not all weddings are happy."

_Nice dig there_. "Well... just... act... affectionate." She replied, somewhat dumbfounded.

"So I gathered." The words had equal, annoyed weight.

Her incredulity grew. "Oh no," She muttered in place of an expletive without thinking. Neji stiffened beside her. "Well... there's... umm. I guess they... touch each other and stuff. Because they like each other and they... want to be near each other." She was blushing, she could feel it. She snuck a glance at Neji. His face was away from her, but she was sure his ear was redder than it should have been. Neji blushing. What an odd concept.

His throat moved perceptibly as he swallowed. "What do you want me to do?" He asked. There was something about his deadpan voice that was not calm.

_Jeez. I guess we'll start slow, then._ She entwined her hand in his without replying. He jumped, but after a moment he relaxed... a bit.

"Is this alright?" She asked, managing her first genuine smile of the day.

He held up their hands and stared at them like he didn't understand something for a long moment before dropping them and shrugging. "And people will take the physical closeness to mean that we like each other."

She nodded, wondering why a huge part of his education seemed to be missing. Is this what isolation does to people? She wondered blankly.

"So, uh, where do you want to eat?"

Neji shrugged.

She sighed. "Is there anything you don't eat?"

"No."

"Can we split the bill?"

He glared at her. She wasn't sure if that meant that not splitting the bill would be rude even for him, or if it meant he wanted her to pay. "We can split the bill."

She smiled.

By the time they got into the populated area of the town and the trees melted away without much notice, Neji's stiffness had worn off and he looked almost... natural holding her hand. That made her happy... because it added to their plausibility.

They – well, she – looked around for somewhere to eat lunch while they walked. The market might be promising at a later date, but it was too crowded for Neji right now. Maybe she could drag him through there to look around tomorrow.

As they walked past the last stall on the actual roadside, a blonde blur made its way out in front of them. Tenten smiled. Excellent.

"You look different, Tenten!" Ino exclaimed, taking in her (very) slightly altered appearance.

Tenten nodded. "I sort of felt like dressing up today," She replied, smiling. She gave Ino a wink. Ino's eyes widened.

Knowing no subtlety, she asked the teasing question casually. "Are you two on a date, then?"

In the surrounding radius of earshot, there was a suspicious silence while people looked elsewhere deliberately.

Knowing she had to answer in the affirmative, she flicked a look at Neji's facial expression in the guise of a coquettish glance, hoping he wasn't about to go apeshit on them. His face wasn't strained, even if it didn't offer anything in the way of actual expression.

"Of course we are," she replied with a bright smile.

Ino blinked and looked towards Neji for confirmation. Tenten swallowed, unsure if she could trust him to be convincing. People were no longer even bothering to look elsewhere.

Neji tensed for a fleeting moment before he shrugged and tugged on Tenten's hand to get them moving again. She was almost proud of him as she heard the beautiful sound of dropping jaws.

The place she chose was cheap enough that she could have covered the bill anyway, and she debated internally whether or not she should go for the high-visibility window table, or the more couple-esque booth down the back. After pausing briefly, she chose the booth, wanting to seem plausible.

As soon as the overly-busty waitress had left them, Tenten turned to Neji, voicing the question that was heaviest on her mind. "Neji... are you okay with the whole 'physical closeness' thing?" She asked.

There was a long pause. "Yes." He replied.

The answer somehow made her feel fuzzy. She decided that it was her hormones needed better self-esteem if they thought that being told that someone could stand to touch her was so great.

"Okay. Good. With that, um... feel free to improvise."

"Improvise?" She should have left it at 'good'.

"Like... um..." She felt her cheek s heat up. What was she supposed to say?

"_Neji, touch me in other ways anytime you want, okay?"_

Because that would go down really well. Neji was giving her his polite attention. "I mean... I don't have to direct you, you know? So, just... improvise. You can... touch me..." Why did that sound so dirty? "In... socially acceptable... ways?"

Tenten was sure that that was meant to be a statement when she'd first said it. Damnit.

Neji's cheekbones were tinted, but nodded curtly. She fought the urge to sigh. He was responding like it was a mission. Maybe he didn't know how else to respond.

Lunch was surprisingly relaxed. The waitress's breasts reached them, and she followed shortly after with their food.

They ate mostly in silence and when they spoke, she initiated it, but it was somehow comfortable. Until the dreaded subject came up. She hadn't thought that Neji would ask, but he did, and there was an interesting catch in his voice when he said it. She'd analyse it later.

"You met your... husband... today."

She swallowed, thinking back to that morning. "Yes. He's a farmer." She replied.

A strange look washed across Neji's face. He didn't offer anything in the way of words.

"Well, I understand that he's fairly rich, good harvests and suchlike." She licked her lips nervously. Neji's face didn't change. She wanted a reaction. He asked and he must have known that she didn't want to talk about it or think about it, but now that he had, and she had, she wanted a reaction.

"He wants lots of kids; says he needs a son to hand the land on to. He seems happy that he'll have me around to help him on the farm when his father dies. Didn't want to talk too much about that, though. You'd think a _farmer _would be less afraid of people dying, wouldn't you?"

There was no reaction. She'd thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd have been angry on her behalf. But since it wasn't about _him_, it didn't matter. She'd forgotten how self-centred Neji's view of the world was.

"Forget it," She muttered. He didn't reply. It struck Tenten suddenly that it was the first time Neji had ever seemed awkward. Particularly around her. He was less arrogant after his first disastrous chuunin exam, but the confidence he oozed hadn't dissipated at all. She'd assumed he'd been trying to put it on hold for their _courtship_, but what if she'd been wrong?

Was it even possible that Neji might be _nervous_?

"Hiashi-sama..." Tenten's head snapped up, thinking that Hiashi had caught them before Neji could talk to him. Seeing no-one, she glared across the table.

Neji managed to smirk and still look irritated. "The dinner." He clarified.

Tenten's stomach dropped. "What did you tell him?" She asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "That I was courting you. Wasn't that – "

"Yes. When is it?" She asked. Trust Neji to use the word 'courting' instead of 'dating'. It made it sound so much more serious. And Hiashi thought... oh, her stomach wasn't meant for this... Hiashi would be a much greater obstacle than her mother if he decided that marriage was a good idea. But at least he wouldn't care if she wanted to go out and kill things, so long as she didn't destroy his family name while she did it.

"Tomorrow."

"_Tomorrow?_"

"Yes. Is there something wrong?"

"Do you have any idea what a formal dinner entails?" Was she going to be allowed to go armed? What if the Hyuugas were offended by her going armed? What was she going to wear? She needed to wash her hair. What if they were offended by her _not _going armed? And go shopping. Was she expected to wear heels? Maybe she should make a point of carrying defensive tools only. Did she need _makeup_? Jewellery?

Neji scowled. "Yes, actually, I do. You're on a tight timeline anyway. Surely you were expecting this,"

She swallowed. "Right. Okay. I need to... I need to talk to Ino." She announced suddenly.

Neji looked extremely confused. "You need to talk to Ino."

"Yes." She mumbled. "We need to cut this short, Neji. I don't have enough time. Is that alright?"

"It's fine." He answered and stood up abruptly.

Tenten nodded. "Okay... Where can I meet you tomorrow?" Maybe he'd choose somewhere a little bit more public this time.

He cocked his head. "Should I pick you up?" He asked.

She smiled, glad that it hadn't been her suggesting a show of intimacy again. "It's a good thought." Her mother might get annoyed, but she'd need to tell her that she had a formal dinner to attend, anyway. "I don't suppose you'd walk me home?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Is it appropriate?"

She smiled. "Sure. But so are flowers and gifts, and I'm not making you do any of that, so it's still optional."

He looked worried for a moment, then inclined his head and offered her his hand to help her up. Hyuuga Neji was listening to her and it was a heady feeling.

She could definitely get used to this.


	4. Shopping and Underwear and More Ino

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thank you.

**Ch: 4.**

The afternoon saw Tenten bathed and redressed in front of the Yamanaka flower shop. The cheerful exterior lifted her spirits and made the clenched feeling in her gut dissipate slightly. For this problem, there was someone she could ask for sure help. Luckily, Ino was working at the counter, tapping her nails on the shiny surface in boredom.

"Ino-chan?" Tenten asked carefully.

"Tenten!" Ino squealed. "You've gotta tell me all about it? How was it? Did he pay? Where'd he take you? Oh, my god! Can he kiss?"

Tenten stared at her for a moment before she realised that Ino was talking about Neji and their 'date'. "Whoa, whoa, whoa..." She waved her hands in front of her in a calming gesture that came out somewhat panicked. "I'll talk to you about it, but you have to help me. It's an emergency."

Ino's eyes widened. "_Already_? You got together, what? Yesterday?"

Tenten fought the urge to slap her. "I'm not _pregnant_!" She snarled.

Ino blinked. "Oh, right. Sorry. It's just... we all knew it would happen eventually, you know? You and Neji, I mean. I'm just surprised he got around to actually asking you out."

Tenten would think about the implications of that later. "He didn't. But, my crisis –"

"You asked _him_?" Ino squealed. "Weren't you _nervous_?"

"Not particularly. Look, Ino –"

"Wow. Okay, sorry, go on."

"I have to go to a very formal, very scary place tomorrow and I don't have anything to wear, or do, and I've never worn formal clothing in my life and I'm very, very worried that Hiashi's going to eat me." She hadn't meant to add that last bit, but she was just a little... terrified. What if Hiashi really didn't like her? Her entire plan would be shot to hell.

Ino was staring at her. "Hi – Hiashi?" She asked. "Isn't that Hinata's... You're going to a formal event with the Hyuugas?" Somehow, Tenten felt as though 'terrified' was about the right speed.

"Come on, Ino, I know you can help me – you're so good at this stuff." She flattered, giving her a pleading look from beneath her eyelashes. Ino gave her a look that said she knew all and wasn't impressed.

"You're right, though. All right – Daddy!" She called. "We've got a small crisis on our hands. Could you look after the shop?" She lowered her voice. "He's recuperating. He got injured on a mission."

Tenten nodded. After receiving an affirmative answer, Ino practically dragged Tenten out to her bedroom.

"I'd say that you're about my size, even if we have to pin you into the clothes differently. What level of formal is this?" She asked.

Tenten shrugged. "There are levels?" She asked.

Ino gave her an incredulous look. "What did Neji say?"

"He just said, 'formal'." Ino slapped her head.

"Well, we'll have to ask him... err... maybe we can ask Hinata-chan?"

Tenten nodded, unwilling to be subjected to Neji's amusement after the fuss she made over lunch.

One Hinata-hunt later, they found the shy girl at Ichiraku, blushing and stuttering as Naruto blithely told her what a good idea it was for Iruka-sensei to get him to take her for ramen, too, because it was hard work to eat alone, even if he didn't get as much ramen out of it, and was she going to eat that swirly fishcake?

Ino dragged Tenten over to the bar where the bowls were piling up. "I'm sorry, we need to borrow your date for a moment. Crisis of the Sisterhood." She informed the blond, who mumbled something through a mouthful before tugging Hinata away from his ears.

"A-ano... good afternoon, Ino-san, Tenten-san," Tenten even received a slight bow, which made her feel a little bit uncomfortable. "I haven't seen Sasuke-kun, or... or N-Neji – niisan today." She blushed just a little bit on the last part.

Ino overrode her. "That's not what we need to know. This dinner thing; how formal is it?" She cut straight to the point. Hinata looked intimidated.

"Uh... ano... Very formal Ino-san." She turned to Tenten, looking a little concerned. "Do you have a good kimono, Tenten-san? Perhaps a _furisode_? – N-not to imply anything!" She added quickly, blushing and covering her mouth.

A _formal kimono_? _How the hell am I supposed to be able to afford a **formal kimono**_?_ And what the **hell** is a _furisode

Ino looked at her. "That's... more formal than I thought." She paused, starting to smile. "Hey... will Neji be wearing a kimono, too, then?"

Hinata nodded. "It's unusual for him; Neji–niisan doesn't usually dress up." She smiled shyly at Tenten.

Ino's grin was widening. "Thank you, Hinata-san," She said, giving her a polite, professional bow. Hinata was quick to respond likewise, despite her surprise at the gesture.

As they left Hinata to her gentle, relentless pursuit and Naruto to his inevitable fate, Ino stared babbling. "You've got to promise you'll remember every single detail and tell me all about it. I wonder if he'll have his hair out – you have to admit, he's got beautiful hair, right?"

Tenten had never admitted anything of the sort, except for that once late last night... the fact that there'd _been_ a 'late last night' with Neji made her think things she wouldn't examine. "Uh, yeah. Absolutely."

Ino's smile was now threatening the longevity of her face. "Actually, he's quite attractive, you know."

He was? "Really?" She asked, honestly surprised. _She _thought Neji was attractive, but a lot of people just thought he was creepy. It was the eyes. Ino gave her a look.

"Don't tell me you like him for his personality." She said blandly. Tenten felt the need to defend her... friend.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Neji's personality!"

"Jeez, he _must_ be a good kisser." Ino said.

Tenten glared. "He can be really, really... um... okay sometimes."

"By okay, you mean, 'not bipolar', right?" the blond muttered.

Tenten's glare intensified. "Hey! That's not right. He can be really... self-sacrificing and stuff."

Ino snorted. "Sure. Okay. Anyway, this is your big chance to look really stunning. We've got just on twenty-four hours to make you look mind-numbing enough to impress your... charming... boyfriend. I think a few of my things might fit you, but I also think you should ask your mother. You're going to dinner with, like, the richest, strongest clan in the country. You can't afford to look... Tenten? What's with that look? ... Oh, my god, Tenten, does your mother even know about this?"

Right in one, Tenten thought. Boy, did Ino have an eye for gossip. "Uh... no. It's a really long story... She'll find out tomorrow, thought! I promise. Neji's coming to pick me up..." She smiled, excited in spite of herself.

Ino grinned. "Your mother doesn't know you're dating him, does she?"

Tenten shook her head. "I don't think she'll be too annoyed. She's always going on about how I don't usually do stuff like this."

Ino cocked her head, slowing their pace a little. "She's right. This is really unusual for you. And it seems _really_ unusual for him. But you two are really well suited to each other, you know?"

"You think so?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, sure. He's... sort of very, uh, _male_, and pretty smart (for a guy) and really strong, and you're the only female he's ever actually paid attention to," She frowned, remembering her past failure to command so much as a blink from him, paused and offered Tenten a speculative look. "Are you sure you can keep up with his temper, though?"

Tenten raised an eyebrow and huffed. "At the moment," She muttered. "I'm trying to stay out of harm's way by _not_ pissing him off." Ino laughed and they went straight through the flower shop and into the home at the back, greeting Yamanaka-san respectfully on the way through.

When they were finally in Ino's room, she sat Tenten on the edge of her bed as though she were made of fine porcelain and began riffling through clothing. The sheer number of garments scared Tenten a little, although the knowledge that only the most formal would be tried was comforting.

Frankly, Tenten knew next to nothing about formal kimono. She'd never had to wear anything more formal than a summer yukata. Ino appeared to be panicking, however, so she decided to remain calm.

"Ino, please calm down."

Ino took a deep breath. "Okay, calm. Lets think this through. First thing's first. What do you have in the way of sexy underwear?" She was smiling evilly again. Tenten suspected that she was only doing this at all because she couldn't pass up the opportunity to pry into someone else's life.

"'Sexy underwear'?" Tenten asked, beginning to feel worried again.

Ino's eyes widened. "Tenten, your boyfriend can see through _walls_ and _trees_." She said faintly.

Tenten flushed brightly. "Neji wouldn't –"

Ino made an inelegant noise and rolled her eyes. "Of _course_ he wouldn't. He's not _male_ or _adolescent_ or anything."

Tenten shook her head. She was almost positive that Ino was being silly. Neji wasn't even _interested_ in females. Or males, as far as she knew. In fact, the only thing he _was_ interested in was being better than everyone else and organising a family revolution. That gave her a disturbing mental image, so she ignored it. On the off-chance that Ino _was_ right, however...

"Ino, you have to come shopping with me!"

Ino nodded in a way that seemed to shout, 'that's the spirit!' "Of course I do. I'll tell my mother about the kimono. Maybe she has one more suitable."

Tenten cocked her head and gestured to the several piles of fabric on the bed beside her. "Why aren't these any good?"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Well... these are pretty formal, but I only have one _furisode_, which is in summer colours."

"Um... what's the difference between other stuff and... _furisode_?"

Ino rolled her eyed. "Ye gods. You've not a clue. A _furisode_ means that you're _unmarried_, Tenten-chan. As is, _fertile_, _up for grabs_, and etcetera. It's a very clear statement. But we need to find you something in the way of western-style undergarments to wear. I think you'd look very nice in a dark red... to suit the season."

Tenten swallowed. Did she really want to be parading in front of a bunch of scary old men who could see through her clothing wearing a kimono that said "_up for grabs_"? She sighed. Maybe Neji would let her hide behind him... If he wasn't too busy staring at whatever undergarments Ino got her into.

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea...

It was past the time she could have backed out when she realised that she was getting way too caught up in this whole plot. Neji wasn't really her boyfriend after all. He was on loan; due back at the end of the week. Ino shoved another scary-looking undergarment into her arms and raced off again. She needed to look believable, though, so this was probably a good thing.

"All right – you can try the bras on, but the other stuff is strictly 'you try, you buy'," Ino informed her. "I'll come in with you, so you don't have to walk out after you try every piece on, okay?"

She was tugged on into a change room. Ino had apparently thought of something on her way over, because she started talking as Tenten began removing her top. They'd negotiated the revealing properties of the undergarments earlier, although Ino seemed to have gotten a few of the more dubious ones into the pile anyway.

At least someone was going to appreciate it, even if Neji never did.

"We'll find something for you to wear tonight, and then I'll come over and help you get into it tomorrow. When is this dinner?"

"Nine." It was strange, she thought, stripping to her skin in front of another person. She wasn't ashamed of her body at all, but the knowledge that Ino was not an easy judge on anything made her self-conscious.

"Late. It'll be light food then. The Hyuugas are really traditional, right?"

"Well, they _do_ like their death penalty," Tenten replied dryly, which produced an inelegant laugh.

"Okay, okay. Just as long as they're not using chairs... because that will really screw up the knots."

Tenten shrugged out of her tape – her mother always teased her about taping her breasts down, but they just got in the way so much when she was dealing with weapons – and Ino stared at her for a moment.

"I'm... gonna go see if we can't find these in bigger sizes." She muttered, before ducking out. Tenten blushed and covered herself with her scrunched up top.

Ino came back in, saw the way she was sitting and shook her head. "Well, there's one thing to be said for kimono – they'll better your posture. Here. This should fit." She paused. "If you've actually got boobs, why do you strap them down?"

Tenten glared, struggling with the garment. "You've obviously never done archery." She muttered.

"I didn't think you would have, either."

"I've got no hereditary talent, so kick-ass martial art style, no ridiculously large chakra reserves. I chose to try my hand at being good with weapons. Which means _all_ weapons."

"Have you ever even worn one of these?" Ino asked, snatching the bra off her irritably.

"No." She growled.

Ino made an exasperated noise. "Come on, Amazon. I'm amazed you haven't got stretch marks from taping your boobs down for five years." She said flatly. Tenten glared.

She helped her into the first, most modest one and turned her to face the mirror. "Look, it's the right size." She told her, waiting to be applauded on her skill in estimation. "You look great."

"I look naked."

"Well, I'll admit, the colour isn't very nice on you, but they don't _stock_ bras for girls your size with...uh... more _generous_ proportions."

Tenten's glare was getting tangible.

Ino sighed. "All right, all right. Get out of it. I think we'll stick to red and black. They're sexy, dark and match the colours on any kimono you'll wear at this time of year." Tenten's glare filled the small room. "And _then_," Ino hurried on, "we'll go downtown and see if they have any cool, easily-concealed weapons, okay?"

Tenten brightened significantly, but was still dubious about the actual use of the garments she was trying.

A half-hour later, she stood in the same change-room, while Ino stared critically at her reflection. It didn't actually seem to be made of anything other than lace and under wire. And the lace seemed to have more holes than ordinary lace. The only thing that the garment actually had going for it was its sanguine colour; Tenten enjoyed the symbolism of framing her reproductive organs in a colour best reserved for the battlefield, although that may have been a reflection on the events of the past few days.

"I think that's the best one," Ino told her.

"Aren't you a little bit sceptical as to whether or not it will be able to function as a _bra_, as opposed to a decorative frame for my tits, Ino-chan?" She growled.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're in formal wear. How much running around can you plausibly be expected to do?" Ino pointed out, manhandling her breasts until she looked more... in-place, or whatever it was.

Tenten bounced once on the balls of her feet. Ino watched and winced slightly as her chest came down a few moments after the rest of her body.

"Okay, I see your point, but you'll be shuffling, _gliding_, even, if you don't want to flash everyone."

_Lovely_. Wouldn't Neji be impressed with her inability to walk? "Okay, I'll wear it. Let's buy the matching underwear and _leave_."

Ino agreed. Tenten paid – she mightn't be able to afford a kimono, but nice underwear was within her paycheque – and they got out of there and down to one of the fancier weapons stores in record time. Tenten made an amused Ino carry the bag out of pride. She couldn't afford for people to see her acting cutesy with Neji one minute and buying _lingerie_ the next.

Ino wandered off to another section of the large store, probably to look at some of the old display items, but Tenten succeeded in finding a few new weapons that would be easy to conceal, and even asked the proprietor for advice. He turned out to be surprisingly helpful, offering places for concealment in formal attire that she never would have thought of.

During a brief lull in her talk with a fellow lover of pointy things, there was an excited squeal. Tenten felt her doom approaching in the form of an excited, manically grinning blonde. Ino was gripping something wrapped, lacy and dark red to her chest. Trust Ino to find the only bit of lace in a weapons store.

"Tenten, look. Even the pattern of the _lace_ matches. You _have_ to get them. It was, like... _meant_ to be." Tenten waved her on to the counter. She didn't want to know. If she wanted to wear whatever it was, she'd decide when she got dressed. _After all this_, she thought, as she paid up to the sympathetic looking shop keep, _that kimono had better be red_.

She was partially right. Ino's mother was happy to lend her a _furisode_, an older style that had been recently re-done in order to be handed down to Ino. Since Ino wouldn't wear anything out of fashion and she seemed a little envious that Tenten got to wear it before she did, Tenten assumed that it was a pretty good kimono. The pattern was embroidered red on the black silk – it looked a little bit like fire, but Tenten assumed it was actually a floral pattern – and the sleeves would reach her ankles when she put it on.

"It's a little masculine, really, but it suits you."

"It's beautiful," she murmured, sincere for the first time since she'd started the whole shopping ordeal.

Ino nodded. "And with your colouring, you'll probably look better in it than me, too," She sighed.

"Oh, that's not true," Tenten told her, knowing that if she didn't tell Ino she was fantastic, she'd start feeling hard-done-by. Or, feeling hard-done-by and voicing it. "I've never worn something this... inhibiting before – I'll probably trip and fall on my face and Hiashi will send for the cook so he doesn't have to get all bloody when he eats me and Neji will be too ashamed to stick up for me and Hinata will end up defending my honour."

Ino giggled suddenly. "Hinata would end up on the table, too."

"Too true," Tenten smiled. "So, will I see you... when?"

Ino frowned. "When's Neji going to pick you up?"

"I don't actually know. How long will it take to get from my place to the... castle... in this?"

Ino sweatdropped. "I believe the term is _mansion_, not _castle_. And he'll probably pick you up a bit past eight. Hmm... I'll be there at four."

Tenten stared at her. "It's going to take you _four hours_ to make me pretty?" she asked, feeling suddenly inadequate.

Ino shrugged. "Sure. If you didn't have such great skin already, it'd take even longer. I'm allowing time for us to experiment with colour combinations a bit, too."

Tenten nodded slowly, wondering how much there was to being a girl that she didn't know about. Ino petted her on the back and told her to get home and sleep and not to eat anything that wasn't totally raw and natural.


	5. Desperate Ease

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thank you.

**Ch: 5.**

It wasn't until the next day, working the morning shift in the flower shop, hauling pots out the front to display, that Ino realised that she could be of a little more help to Tenten's attempted relationship. It was at about noon, when she saw Neji stalking down the opposite side from the shop, creating space around him as the people moved quickly away from him.

She was struck by a thought, hard. Leaving her pot and quickly checking her reflection in the glass of the window, she made her way across the street to where he was suddenly caught by a display of Edo-esque weapons. She didn't touch him, intelligent enough to realise that unwarranted contact would result in loss of life and or limb, but stood next to him and made a comment on the display. After a long moment of silence, he turned to face her.

"You want to talk to me."

It was funny how he could state the obvious and make it feel to everybody else as though he were saying something incredibly astute.

"I just thought that you might like to know that, when you buy Tenten flowers tonight, we'll be happy to give you a significant discount." She inclined her head politely, hoping that he would get her clever and subtle hint.

Behind her, he made an amused noise before saying calmly, "Thank you, Yamanaka-san," and continuing on his way, leaving her standing shocked in the street for the second time in twenty hours. Hyuuga Neji had thanked her.

_Politely_.

Tenten must be influencing him.

Either that, or he was possessed by a demon and Tsunade should be told immediately.

"I had an interesting conversation with Yamanaka-san on the way here, actually," Neji murmured blandly after Tenten had mentioned how she'd come across something even vaguely formal by stealing it from Ino.

It was interesting the way Tenten seemed to hover between going red and going green. Both colours suited her, but neither was a good skin tone for her.

"Oh, god no. Was this about the holsters, or the... never mind."

For some reason, 'never mind' sounded like an interesting story to him. He let it slide. "Actually, it was about flowers," he told her, before she could go any other unattractive colours. She let a sigh of relief slip from her.

He slid his hand down her forearm until it found hers and let them entwine. He tried to relax.

"Neji... Neji. You won't die from holding my hand, you know. Relax." It didn't seem to be working. He was trying, too. He forced his muscles into what he knew other people looked like when they were relaxed.

"Now you _look_ alright, but you still feel all tense." Tenten complained. He gritted his teeth. It wasn't her fault, he was being –

_Eeep! _

To his eternal shame, a tiny noise escaped him. If she heard it, she was ignoring it. Smart Tenten.

"See? You're still here." Tenten teased from where her face was pressed into his neck. The warm line of her body was pressed flush against him in a tightly-wound hug. "What's the problem?"

"It feels wrong," He muttered, trying to copy the natural-looking movement he'd seen others engage in by wrapping one arm around her waist stiffly.

She raised her head and sighed. Her posture indicated that she was sad about something. Probably his poor acting skills, he surmised irritably. He could do this. He was _the_ prodigy. He could learn anything.

How did he tell her that it was something he needed practise at?

"Maybe you just need to practise it a little," Tenten suggested, right on schedule.

He nodded slowly. She smiled. "Well, we can forget doing stuff for this morning. I think tonight covers 'socializing', anyway. Maybe we can just... go to the clearing and see if you can, say, touch me without flinching, maybe?" She joked.

He almost winced at how that sounded. He'd have liked to tell her that he didn't find her repellent at all, but he settled for shrugging uncomfortably.

As it is with all things that one is both dreading and anticipating, they arrived at the clearing very, very fast. It didn't look any different, but they both knew how much it had changed since they'd started using it for training. The trees, a few of which were lying on their side, looked a little bit like aged apple-cores from the beatings they received and the grass was sparse and muddy.

Tenten settled herself down on the same stump that Lee had met her on the – only the day before? It seemed like years – and she gestured for Neji to sit next to her. He did, and abruptly it was a very small tree stump.

She swallowed, watching him stare straight ahead. Did he suddenly feel like his skin was hypersensitive? There was only one way to find out.

"I think we're meant to be touching," She mumbled and wondered how her voice had gotten so throaty, "for, uh, practise." What a stupid idea. She was full of them lately.

He nodded in agreement. Neither made a move to touch the other. She swallowed again. After a moment of agonising tension, she mentally slapped herself on the head. What was she doing? If the plan said that they needed to touch each other easily, then that was what would happen. It was just Neji. He might laugh at her and be arrogant and cocky, but somehow it didn't feel like she'd be giving up her dignity.

"We need to start with something pretty platonic. Something we've both done before." She told him nervously, looking over at him to find that he had the back of his hands pressed to the inside of his thighs hard enough that it must have hurt and he was staring at the dirt beneath their feet. At least she wasn't the only one who was having problems. But she seemed to be the only one willing to speak.

"Like what?" He asked, and his voice sounded somehow not-calm.

She sighed, searching her mind. Holding hands wasn't something he was used to, obviously. And hugging seemed to freak him out. "Maybe sparring would work," she mumbled. If he only knew how to touch within the boundaries of violence, he'd never make it. More to the point, SHE'D never make it!

"Somehow, I don't think it'll be very useful for... this sort of stuff." He replied dryly. She nodded. At least he understood where the problem was. It was a pity men didn't have too many maternal instincts.

They were stalling. How hard could it be? Not this hard, surely. Beside her, Neji shifted irritably.

"Thinking about it is only going to make it harder," He said. She nodded.

"I could swear that this didn't seem so hard before." Tenten muttered.

Neji fought the urge to make a pithy comment. The two spent almost ten minutes staring moodily at the dirt and trampled greenery, wondering how to achieve the appearance of physical closeness without offending the other.

Eventually, Tenten's stubbornness was worn down. With an aggression that mirrored her frustrations and fears, she moved quickly and balanced herself over a very surprised Neji. His hands came up almost automatically to steady her by the hips as she let her weight rest across his thighs.

He could see the pulse jump nervously under the skin of her neck as she finally settled. He could feel in her body that she was even less relaxed than he was. The least he could do was to try. He licked his lips nervously, and her pulse jumped again. It took him a moment to realise that he'd been staring at her throat and he stopped, letting his eyes move up to her face.

She was watching him intently, still far too tense for either of their comfort. She looked almost... frightened. He searched his mind for some way to make the look go away, but he couldn't for the life of him come up with anything comforting. Instead, he tried to relax. It was hard work, but he slid his hands from their place resting on her hips until his arms were wrapped around her waist, binding her closer to his body.

She let out a breath that made her shoulders shake fiercely. Her body still didn't seem to want to relax. He wanted to ask her, 'what now?', but the words wouldn't form on his tongue.

Tenten shifted closer, her warm weight sliding down his thighs until she was straddling his hips firmly. He tensed automatically, knowing he should relax but not understanding how to. The movement pressed the hot line of her body into his torso; they were pressed together, every inch of their bodies pressing into each other's.

He could see it clearly when she swallowed. "Is this... okay?" She asked.

"Yes," He answered. His voice had dropped a couple of octaves. Tenten looked down at him.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded slowly. After a long moment of watching her pulse slow down ever-so-slowly, he wrapped one of his arms up higher on her back so that the fingers of his right hand were hooked over her right shoulder and he could press his forehead into the soft curve of her neck.

Tenten flinched at the bite of the cold metal on her neck, but she was pleased that Neji seemed to be getting the hang of it so quickly. He was still tense, certainly, but it wasn't at all as bad as it had been. She played with the tip of his ponytail absently as his breathing regulated slowly. Ino had brought her attention to it, but he really did have lovely hair; it was all dark and silky and shiny. What else had Ino said? Nothing flattering.

_Something about kissing. Not going there. _

She noted with amusement that she could feel his heartbeat against her chest if she concentrated. "Why do you keep this so long?" She asked suddenly.

Neji lifted his head from her neck, leaving her skin to cool. She tugged lightly on the end of his ponytail. He batted her hand away. "Tradition, mostly. My father kept his hair long," He replied, hooking the end over two fingers and watching it swing. His eyes actually moved as he watched it, Tenten noticed. He looked like a kitten watching the loose wool twitch as somebody knitted a scarf.

She laughed. He looked back at her. She waved it off. "Just... thinking." She said.

He dropped his hair in favour of running his hand back down about her waist. "About what?" He asked. His voice was low and growling deep.

Even if she ignored the tone and concentrated on the words, her pulse started jumping like it was trying to escape her skin. Swallowing, she shook her head. "Nothing," She replied, stuck between hating and loving the way her voice came out soft, as though she was having difficulty breathing.

_It's Neji. Who is really, really hot. But I'm still not going there. Really._

He made a humming, agreeing noise and leaned into her again. His breath was hot on her skin, and she could feel it roll down into places he'd certainly never touched, making her shiver.

Suddenly she was wondering if he would be as good at kissing as Ino had implied. That girl was an awful influence on her. One hand trailed lightly up her back to play with a few pieces of hair that she'd failed to tie up. Things low in her stomach fluttered and coiled, but it was far different from the feeling she'd had through most of the week; it was almost pleasant, in a nervous, shivery, anticipatory kind of way.

_Oh, hell._

Neji turned his head to the side slightly and she could feel his lips, slightly chapped, trace the hammering pulse point on her neck. Abruptly, Tenten felt like some invisible hand had slid an ice-cube down her spine. Hypersensitive, she shuddered, which only drove her body harder against his. A low growl trickled from his throat and he twined one hand in her hair and dragged her face down to his. She'd have to put it back up later. But then it didn't matter so much, because she could feel his lips pressed against hers in a chaste, perfect kiss. She wasn't sure how he'd kept her from mashing their faces together painfully by accident, but she was sure that her heart was about to jump out of her body through her mouth. It stayed that way for a long, tense moment.

Then he tugged down harder, forced her mouth open with his own, and drew her closer with the arm wrapped around her until she was kneeling up and pressed tight against the front of his body. His tongue was in her mouth, rough and rubbing. He'd been drinking strong tea. She grabbed a handful of his thick hair, using her leverage to pull him closer and try to control the kiss.

His hand slid up under the back of her top, tracing cool patterns over the small of her back. She heard herself make a small noise in her throat. It sounded like she was supposed to, she thought dizzily; harsh and hungry and heated. Neji responded to it, a low snarl vibrating inside his chest as he straightened as much as he could and tried to get even closer to her, dragging her into him harder. She could feel the shape of his body through the thin layers of fabric. His skin was hot.

Tenten couldn't breathe fast enough through her nose to fuel her increased heart rate, and pulled away, breathing heavily and averting her eyes. Unfortunately, air was not Neji, and she knew which she'd rather have had right then. She wondered insanely for a moment if he was angry, and quickly looked back at him. What she saw wasn't exactly anger. Instead, he looked at her with something raw and primal and intrinsically male in his translucent eyes and she actually felt her body temperature rise several degrees at that look.

He licked his lips, and for the first time, she knew it wasn't from nerves. "Is this what you wanted, then?" His voice was husky and thick.

_Well, isn't that a loaded question. **Was** this what I wanted all along?_

_No. Definitely not._

She opened her mouth to reply, but, staring into his strange eyes, she paused.

_Except... Neji is... Neji is really not sweet. Or gentle, or... anything positive. He's cold and sarcastic and arrogant. But sometimes... those things are kind of endearing. I didn't really want to change anything but now... but now I think that some things need to change._

_Is this what I want now?_

_... Is it?_

She looked at him for a long moment, suddenly aware that if this plan didn't save her, she was totally screwed. "Yes." She grinned, unable to voice it any other way.

A faint smile twisted the ends of his lips. He didn't reply verbally. He just pulled her down to him and kissed her again, until she was dizzy and breathless. The kisses were rough and hot and, in her opinion, everything a kiss was supposed to be. She couldn't _get_ any closer to Neji unless gravity helped her, but she pushed forward anyway, led by some vague wish that maybe they'd meld. His skin was comparatively hot and her skin felt cool when he moved his arms. She wanted to feel all of her skin pressed against all of his, but she was sure that there would be something wrong with that. Right then, she wasn't sure what might be bad about it, but she obeyed that part of her mind and didn't try to get his clothes off.

A few long moments later, Tenten relaxed her knees and dropped her weight back down into Neji's lap with a sigh. He pushed her dishevelled hair aside and buried his face into her neck, breathing deeply. His breath was hot and fast, rolling downwards and making her tingle, but it was slowing down rapidly.

"Do you think you'll be able to touch me easier, now?" She asked, mostly teasing. He gave a soft huff of laughter. She'd never heard him laugh from pure amusement before. Bitterness, vicious self-satisfaction, sure, but it was somehow a nicer sound this way.

"Mmm. Need more practice," He informed her seriously, lips forming the words on her skin. She grinned, feeling a smile that she knew was stupid and irrational cross her face. She was bubbling over with euphoria.

"We can _definitely_ fix that." She answered, sliding one hand under his top to rub small circles on his skin, purely for the sake of touching it. It was softer than it looked.

If somebody saw them, Tenten was sure it would seem strange, not to mention embarrassing, but it was comfortable there, resting against him. He was relaxed, finally, or, at least, tense in a far better way. She wanted to verbalise things, try and figure out the boundaries to the new level of the relationship, but Neji wasn't exactly the sort of person who'd be willing to talk things over all the time. Maybe she'd ask Ino about it later. Mostly, she wanted to know if it would be permanent.

She asked. He frowned at her.

"What do you mean, 'permanent'?" He asked.

The euphoria melted slightly. She bit her lip. "I mean, is this just until the week is out?" She asked.

He lifted his head from her shoulder. With her straddling his legs and him sitting straight, they were almost exactly the same height. "If you want," He answered ambiguously.

She felt like whacking him. "What if it isn't?" She ground out, blushing. It might have been a more masculine trait, but she didn't like voicing her emotions; it made her feel vulnerable.

He shrugged. "Then it isn't." He replied.

She fumed. "Surely you have some sort of opinion on the matter."

He cocked his head and gave her a small, perplexed smile. "That wasn't what you asked."

She waved one hand in the air. "You know what I mean."

"I think it would be hard to go back." He shrugged again.

She pouted. "That's what I'm wondering. If I've gained something, what have I lost?" She asked.

"Your rights to my benign neglect? I don't know. Figure it out for yourself." He snapped finally, losing all patience and most interest. He stared down and traced nervous little patterns on the small of her back.

She poked him in the stomach, trying not to get annoyed. He grunted. "Aren't you supposed to be nicer if you're my boyfriend?"

There was that word. It hadn't meant to come out, but it had. She could pretend it was a part of their façade, she supposed, but she was suddenly worried about how the coming of the weekend would affect her._ It's only Thursday; I have time. _

"Am I?" He asked, but she wasn't sure which he was referring to.

"Yes." She said firmly.

He nodded. "If you like the word," He replied. "Have you ever considered that, maybe, when you gain something good, the thing you lose to compensate isn't always one of the good things?"

She snorted. "No. Well, I'm sure _you're_ not all good, anyway. Now shut up and kiss me again."

He pressed his lips against hers softly again, and the simple feel of it was enough to make her thoughts travel away from the past and future, straight into the present. Slowly, after several moments of the passive pressure, she realised that he was waiting for her. She slid her lips over his bottom lip, letting the sensitive skin catch slightly. After a few, long moments of nipping and licking, she finally convinced him that she was serious and he started to kiss back. The feeling changed immediately from the pure pleasure of touch into the strange, somewhat alien sensation of anxious excitement. It might have started off slowly, but it didn't remain that way.

Neji felt some small noise roll around in his throat. Since it didn't sound particularly hostile, it didn't register too far inside his mind at that time. Tenten's weight across his thighs was interesting; an awkward, comfortable, heavy warmth. Growling against her mouth, he finally started to respond, sliding his tongue between her lips and feeling her tiny breath of surprise. It was an unusual sensation, slick and wet and warm and somehow pleasant. It made him want to find out other things... like what her sweat tasted like, if he could make her make more of those pleased little sounds she'd made earlier...

He settled one hand along her thigh and the other across her back and drew back far enough to tilt her head backwards a little and trail his tongue down her neck experimentally. She sighed softly and let her head drop back, possibly to let him have better access. It was a strangely submissive gesture for her, and he found himself undecided as to whether or not he liked it. Since she obviously liked it, he continued down her neck, finally fastening his lips over her pulse and sucking hard. It would leave a mark if he did it for too long, he knew, so he let go and bit it lightly. She jumped, and he felt the hand he hadn't really noticed before tense in his hair.

He nosed her collar away in irritation, kissing as far below as the fabric would allow him. With an irritated sound, Tenten's hand unwound from his hair and efficiently undid several of the frog clasps. Her top fell open low enough that he could have undone the bindings around her chest without moving it if he'd wanted. And he did want to, certainly, but he didn't, simply because he was sure she wouldn't appreciate it.

Her skin was somehow even softer there; with it in his mouth, he couldn't ignore the desire to bite down. She made a little gasping noise, but didn't seem to mind too much. It took more willpower than was pretty to draw away and not break the surface too deeply.

He lifted his hand from her thigh to run one long finger over the somehow enticing shape her breasts made under the tape, listening to the soft growl she made, watching her nipples peak under the tight fabric. His body responded the only way it knew how and he felt her tense, wide eyed. Ignoring it, he rubbed his lips over the stretched taping, hearing her breathing pick up and feeling her pulse speed. Slowly he slid his lips down the curve, letting his teeth catch on the cloth and thoroughly enjoying the involuntary tightening of her embrace when he grazed a nipple. She made a breathy, anticipatory whine and he chuckled darkly, loving the sound immediately.

His laugh flowed down her skin like fur, warm, and ticklish, and vaguely obscene. She swallowed, somehow unable to function when he was touching her. The thought made her wish it were purely skin on skin, so she could feel the entire silken length of his body against hers. His breath was hot on her oversensitive skin, even through the fabric. The hand that was entwined in his hair slid up further almost of its own accord to grip tightly nearer his head and she arched into him.

"Tenten! Ten- whoa!"

Neji let go of her back and she fell back onto his lap. His eyes had changed into the form that Tenten, at least, associated with somebody's impending demise. She'd never seen the _byakugan_ up that close, and, while damn scary for whoever he was glaring at, it made her wonder why people described the talent as 'creepy'. She had an inane little desire to eat the protruding veins across his temple.

"I, uh ...sorry?"

Neji's hands tightened painfully around her waist, and she was abruptly aware of how much physically stronger he was. She turned to see which incredibly stupid specimen of the female gender was about to die an excruciatingly painful death.

With an irritated huff, she turned back to Neji and leaned into his ear, ignoring the veins in favour of saving a friend's life. The things she did... "Perhaps it would be a good idea if Ino survived the next four hours; I need her to get me into my clothes." Truthfully, Tenten didn't think it was even two pm yet, but maybe Ino had decided she needed longer, or something.

"It's going to take you _four_ _hours _to get into a kimono?" He asked dryly. She shrugged.

"I'm told that it's more complicated than it looks." She replied. He made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat before kissing her bare shoulder affectionately and disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving her wondering where that cute little gesture had come from. She hadn't had Neji picked as the publicly demonstrative type.

"I thought that was a jounin trick." Tenten muttered, referring to the other strangely cute gesture. Maybe Neji could just do nothing un-cute today.

"And _I _thought he was going to kill me." Ino replied, coming to sit on the stump. She grinned at her after a moment. "You've got teeth in your neck." Ino continued after a moment, rubbing a finger along the sharp indents just below her collarbone and raising an eyebrow when her fingertip came back bloodied. "Very considerate of him to get it under the neckline of the _furisode_." Ino commented.

"Considerate. Yes. Considerate ol' Neji." Tenten replied. Ino laughed.

"Come on. You're already twenty minutes behind."

Tenten knelt up straighter. "It's past four?"

Ino's eyebrow went up higher. "Yes... How long have you two been down here?"

Tenten felt her cheeks heat and refused to answer. How had she lost _hours_?

Ino's grin was too wide for her own good.


	6. Dysfunctional

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thank you.

**Ch: 6**

Tenten's mother was arriving home at the same time as they did. It was unfortunate, Ino thought blandly, that she seemed to be talking to a young man of twenty-something years about the many virtues of her daughter. Particularly when that daughter was arriving home with dirt on her pants, her top undone and half of her hair out, a nasty hickey on her shoulder and a clean set of deep bite marks on her chest.

"Oh, no... not _him_."

Ino raised an eyebrow at her. "Him?"

Tenten shook her head. "I'll tell you when we get upstairs... They haven't seen me yet – let's use the window." She jumped up into a tree with no further preamble.

"Tenten-chan? Is that you?" The young man asked, noticing the action. It was a good thing it was too fast for him to see much.

"Ah, Ino." Tenten's mother smiled. "I'm sure Tenten must have told you all about Ishin-san." She gestured to the man. Alarm bells started going off inside Ino's mind.

"Why would she have...?"

"Well, she's really quite taken with him, don't you think?"

Ino blinked. If Tenten could be said to have ever been _taken_ with anyone, she'd have said it was Neji. She had an inkling of what was going on here. It reeked of maternal meddling, something she knew a lot about herself. But she didn't know the full story, so she excused herself as best she could.

"Uh... It's nice to meet you, Ishin-san. I'm here to help Tenten prepare for tonight." She bowed politely and made to go into the house.

A hand on her shoulder stopped her. "Tonight?"

Ino swallowed. _She hasn't told her... Oh, damnit. Well, she'd have found out sooner or later._ "Yes," She replied carefully. "Tonight. There's a formal meeting at the Hyuuga estate to introduce her to Hiashi-sama." She replied respectfully.

Tenten's mother opened the door and they slid off their shoes.

"Whatever for?" She asked, sounding mildly surprised. "We're having Ishin-san take the evening meal with us tonight. It will have to be cancelled, anyway. She can't miss out on any quality time with her betrothed, particularly so close to the wedding."

_Betrothed? _Ino was a bright girl, since less-than-bright kunoichi usually died fast, and she caught on very quickly. Wishing to say something spiteful and feeling that "Cancel, and you will all die a painful, painful death, because her boyfriend is a little unstable" might be a bit much, Ino thought. "Well," She said slowly, "It might be because, I don't know... Hiashi-sama's nephew is... hoping to marry her?"

Okay, so that might have been a teeny weeny overstatement.

If this backfired, they weren't the only ones who might die a painful, painful death, Ino thought belatedly. _That sucks_.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Well, it will have to be cancelled nevertheless. Since we're having a guest, dinner won't be until eight thirty, but you're welcome to stay."

Ino agreed blandly and continued on through the house without another word.

"What. The hell. Is going on?"

Tenten was fixing herself up nervously in the mirror. "Mother's trying to marry me off to Ishin. We made a deal that if I could get a suitable boyfriend before the weekend is out, mother would call the whole thing off. He agreed to pretend to be my boyfriend for that long, so I had a slim chance of not going off to work on a farm and ending up pregnant with a bunch of brats my whole life. That's Neji," She clarified. "But then things got... confusing..." read as steamy, Ino thought blandly, "...and I don't think we're pretending anymore. Except... Neji's... Neji." She finished with a sigh.

The implications of Neji being Neji were simple and sad; he was uncommunicative and unpredictable at the best of times. Tenten's eyes met hers. "What's the matter? You look awful."

This was definitely the hottest piece of gossip Ino had heard since Sasuke ran off, but she found that she had no desire to tell everybody. In fact, she wanted to meddle. Fix it. It was true what they said – good intentions really were the road to hell.

"If you two were pretending to make out, you're very good at it." She grinned. Tenten scowled, looking inwards. Ino cleared her throat. "Well. Your mother has invited Ishin for dinner. She wants you to cancel." Tenten's eyes widened. Ino looked at her and wondered if she was about to cry. Nah. Not Tenten.

Tenten looked ill. "I can't cancel – think how Neji would feel! Hell, forget Neji, think how _I _would feel! He's going to kill me. No, seriously, he's _actually_ going to _kill _me." She sat on the bed and put her head between her knees.

Ino felt that she probably wasn't that far off the truth, although the fact that pissing him off scared her that much was kind of worrying. "Well, you'll just have to go, then, won't you?"

Tenten looked back up. "If I go anyway, mother will never let this marriage thing go."

Ino snorted. "If worse comes to worse, Tenten, it doesn't matter that much. At the moment, you're going to be forced to marry him either way. If you go with Neji tonight, at least you have some chance of gaining the support of Konoha's most influential clan. If you don't, you'll be all on your own, and Neji's temper won't have cooled off before you're pregnant."

Tenten nodded. "I really have to go, don't I?"

Ino nodded. "Of course, if they try to keep you, I can go get Neji," She murmured.

"I want to get out of here; I don't want to kill them." Tenten snapped.

Ino shook her head. "Honestly? Violence probably won't even occur to those two, and Neji's coming to pick you up, anyway. It might occur to your would-be boyfriend, but it will be taken care of. All you have to do is worry about not flashing the room."

Tenten raised her head and nodded firmly, as though keeping that in mind. "Okay. What first?"

"First, you bathe." Duh.

Tenten nodded again, and then paused. "Um... could you get the water?"

Ino shook her head but went to get it anyway; using whatever stealth she had to stay out of the way of the other inhabitants of the house.

She brought the large wooden half-barrel back in short order, carrying it easily. Perhaps all that training really was paying off. No thanks to Shikamaru.

She stood and watched Tenten strip her clothing from her body and try to scrub herself raw on the hard wooden floor. She seemed to do it awfully slowly, and the afternoon sunlight was dark and cold through the drapes, lighting the room in silver and shadows. It was going to rain.

Maybe Neji would show more initiative than most males and bring an umbrella. Maybe he'd show more initiative than anybody expected and unceremoniously kill off _Ishin-san_.

"Get into these." Tenten looked at the bare strips of red lace Ino was holding up and sighed, feeling the familiar apprehension. Damn her.

"Do you really think he'll be staring through my clothes?" She knew that Neji was hardly the image of a gentleman, but she couldn't imagine... Although, the idea was beginning to appeal to her. A scary thought.

"If he isn't, someone there will be." Ino replied. Tenten frowned.

"Ew." She muttered. The bra left her feeling like she'd hit herself in the face if she jumped and the underwear were the most uncomfortable things anybody had ever talked her into. Well there was that one time with Lee and the microwave... but that wasn't the point.

"Alright, now these, just in case someone attacks you, just because you're, you know, totally hot." Another, slightly more substantial pile of lace was thrust upon her, and Tenten unravelled it to see her doom. Ah. So that was what Ino had gotten at the weapons store.

"This is a total mockery of our art." She said finally, sliding them on and finding weapons with which to fill them.

"It's practical for some espionage missions, and that store caters to all tastes. There are kunoichi out there who aren't as tomboyish as you." She informed her snippily. "Besides," She added after a moment. "You ask Neji. I bet he'd like them. Or, at least, he'd like to remove them."

"Ino..."

"With his teeth."

"_Ino_..."

"Oh, fine. But you should ask."

"I'll tell him you're interested." Tenten muttered. Ino smiled.

Apparently, clothing got more complicated the more formal the event was, and Tenten stopped counting after Ino had gotten the tenth piece of her _furisode_ into place. The sleeves were so long that they almost swept the floor when she stood, and the knot that Ino tied at the back of the _obi_ was unbelievably complicated. Tenten looked out at the sky and estimated the time to be around six thirty.

"Unbelievable. After all that, what happens when I fall over?" She asked.

Ino rolled her eyes. "That's what you're going to practice while I find a colour for your skin tone." She informed her, drawing a box of cosmetics from god knows where.

"What? Falling over?"

"No! _Not_ falling over." Ino slapped the lid onto the floor. "Use your pillow and practice sitting and standing without flashing people."

It was surprisingly difficult, because she couldn't move her legs very far apart without showing a lot more of her skin (and lace, heaven forbid) than she wanted to. She was almost beginning to be thankful that the underwear matched the kimono.

It took her the best part of a half hour to get it right, during which Ino laughed at her and retied her _obi_ twice. After she'd gotten the trick of it, she managed a couple more times and tried to finesse it a bit, stirring some vague semblance of balance into the mix. Ino applauded her and suggested that she walk over to her and sit down. With some pride, Tenten did.

"Alright, now sit still and let me apply this."

"It's not that white stuff, is it?" Tenten asked. Ino rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you wanted to look like a _geisha_, I could, but, no, it isn't. In fact, you don't even need base. Be proud, Tenten," She said teasingly, "You have supermodel skin."

"I'm not going to look like a six-year old with a jar of paint, am I?"

"Tenten, I'm not going to screw your face up."

Tenten sighed resignedly. "Okay, whatever. Just put the stuff on." Ino huffed and told her to stay still, because she was going to start with kohl and work outwards. Tenten didn't really know what that meant, but she closed her eyes and let Ino apply something wet and slick along her eyelids, first above and then below.

It went on and on and on and she wanted to see it every time a utensil was exchanged in favour of the next, but Ino wouldn't let her, telling her that she'd see the finished product or nothing at all.

The hair was next, and she still wasn't allowed to see it, but she did manage to extract the promise that whatever she did to it wouldn't be permanent. Ino distracted her with cheerful, sassy talk and teasing.

It took an hour, at least. Tenten was amazed to realise that Ino's timing had been damn near perfect. When, finally, she had the looking-glass in her hand, she peered into it cautiously.

"Oh!" It took all her willpower not to touch her eyelids. Aside from the heavy black kohl which accentuated the size and shape of her finest features, the makeup was all but invisible. The winter colours weren't Ino's usual bright, in-your-face, fare. Instead, they deepened the shadows around her eyes, drew out her cheekbones and made her bones look... finer, somehow. Instead of childish and effeminate, it made her seem a few years older, more angular, and decidedly exotic. Cool.

"What's the matter?" Ino asked over her shoulder as she tucked away her implements. "Did you think you'd look like forehead girl?"

"Well... sort of." She admitted sheepishly. "Why wouldn't I? She wears makeup and she looks cute. You wear makeup and you look... cute." Her hair was up in a single knot, and she couldn't see how Ino had done it. It looked alright, but very traditional.

"And cute works for us," Ino replied, turning back to her and smoothing the skirt of the _furisode_ out. She frowned at her for a moment. "It could work for you, too, in a way, but I don't think 'cute' is going to impress Neji. You look sexy; _that's_ impressive."

Tenten smiled faintly, at a loss to see how she went from trying not to get too close to Hyuuga Neji to actually taking four hours out of her day to try and present herself favourably to his eye. She frowned and wondered why she didn't feel like such a traitor to her gender. Oh, wait.

There it was. Damn it. Was that really necessary? She'd almost been feeling good.

Ino touched her shoulder. "Even Tsunade-sama likes to dress up, you know." She said softly, seeming to read her mind. Tenten looked up at her.

"I feel like the ultimate hypocrite."

"What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself; I'm the tomboy. I can't stand girls who sit in front of the mirror for hours on end making themselves look _pretty_ for the menfolk."

Ino made an inelegant noise in her throat. "Who told you that you had to be a martyr to principle? You're an adolescent for gods' sakes." There was a knock on the door and Ino decided to wind the pep-talk up quickly. "Anyway, vanity isn't just a luxury; it's a necessity for mental health."

Tenten nodded after a moment. "Okay, fine. But do you mind if I get annoyed at myself in the privacy of my own mind?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "You don't have time. Get up, your date's here. I'll go entertain him while you make your way down the hall."

Tenten made a grumbling noise and made it to her feet without flashing lace.

Ino left quickly.

She managed to get to the door before Tenten's mother and opened it wide. Her eyes got almost the same width before she managed to shut her jaw and blink once or twice. Neji looked... 'very cold' came to mind, but she dismissed it. She was sure that had something to do with the colourless eyes and the chalk-white skin and the jet black hair. Not to mention the black of the formal kimono – with _hakama_; surprise, surprise, the man got to walk and the woman got to shuffle along behind him – he was wearing, although, to be fair, there was a grey design around the collar... probably a clan crest of some sort, she thought, recalling what she knew from her early questioning of her father as to why he had bright patterns around his neck. There was a thick strip of black silk around his head. It almost melted into his hair.

Surprise upon surprise, he was carrying two umbrellas. Ino felt herself begin to smile.

"Oh, wait until you see her!" She squealed, fighting back the suicidal urge to glomp him. "I've totally outdone myself."

He raised one fine eyebrow and didn't answer. Instead, he raised his other hand, in which were clasped two white roses and a red one. Long stemmed. If he'd been there for her, she would have melted. As it was, her bones felt as though they'd softened a little.

"You remembered," She said, slightly dumbstruck. She sincerely hoped that Tenten wasn't still pretending, because _he_ certainly wasn't.

_You know, if this thing with Sasuke starts to go awry, I may just steal him. He does brush up alright. Or maybe she'll share. _

"How could I forget?" Neji was a _romantic_... oh... "It's not every day I'm molested on the street by my friendly local florist."

Neji had the romance of a rock. _Molested!_

She ground her teeth against the snappish reply that her brain automatically supplied. "Where _is_ she?" Ino asked after a moment. It had been way too long. "Don't tell me she had an attack of nerves..."

Neji frowned. "Why would she be nervous?"

"Oh, she just realised that she has standards too high to realistically live up to. You know what it's like." She shrugged.

"She'll get over it." It was his turn to shrug.

Ino glared. Neji glared back.

He paused for a long moment before sweeping inside in a rush of heavy black silk and making a straight path for Tenten's room. Her mother looked up from the kitchen as he passed, but all she got was a glimpse of a hurrying Ino.

Tenten was actually in the hallway just outside of her room. She saw Neji and her face went grey. He stopped a few feet away from her.

He looked her up and down quickly. He'd have probably agreed that Ino had outdone herself, if he knew what she normally managed. The individual details were one thing, but the all over impression of Tenten was of rich, screaming scarlet and cool black and white. He was reminded of several things, none of them positive. Perhaps not the sweetest of images to send Hiashi-sama, but it suited his own tastes brilliantly.

Ino closed the distance and touched the side of Tenten's neck, where no makeup had been applied.

"Come on Tenten, you guys need to get out of here before your mother has a fit."

"What?" Neji asked sharply, eyeing Ino with considerable force. Ino shifted uncomfortably.

"She invited Ishin at the last moment and wanted Tenten to cancel." She admitted, hoping that her willingness to help out would spare her life if the knowledge resulted in melee.

Neji remained impassive. "I see... Tenten?" His voice was harsh.

"What did you say?" He ignored her sulkiness.

"What does this mean?" He asked. She blinked.

"It means that mother probably won't give up on me marrying Ishin either way." She admitted irritably. The look that flashed across Neji's face for a split second was one that Ino hoped she'd never, ever have to see again. She gathered that he was the jealous type.

"Is there anything we could do to prevent that?" He asked. Ino found it rather strange how, when he was obviously so angry, he maintained the most deadpan voice she'd ever heard.

Tenten shook her head. "No. And I'm certainly not staying here."

Neji nodded. "Do you think you can get to the door without being noticed?"

Tenten sighed. "No. I can't _walk_ in this."

"You look... um, pretty," He commented, suddenly awkward.

Ino raised a knowing eyebrow at her. Tenten snorted inelegantly. Neji's gaze didn't actually move, but Ino got the impression that he was looking at each of them in turn and firmly deciding to ignore whatever was going on.

She shrugged. "Let's just see if Tenten can get past the door at a shuffle, and, if we get unduly noticed on the way ... we'll deal with the confrontation." He suggested, although Ino suspected that it was more of an order. Tenten certainly regarded it as such, nodding sharply and trying to glide without falling over.

Ino and Neji let her pass them, watching her carefully. Or, at least, Ino knew she was watching her carefully. Neji might have been transfixed with other things... Like her almost-there underclothing.

He eyed her for a moment. "I know what you're thinking and I'm not particularly impressed."

Okay, _that_ was just creepy. She'd stick with Sasuke. At least he was _way_ too self-absorbed to be that insightful.

They got past the kitchen without being noticed and Neji thought it was a miracle, but then reminded himself that not everybody had his hereditary advantages and that not everybody had even trained to be able to recognise a stranger's presence.

They got to the door and Neji took one of the umbrellas leaning against the wall, opened it and held it for Tenten, who held her arms up slightly and tip-toed her way through the few feet of muddy grass before they hit actual road.

After a few moments of rearranging herself, Tenten gave him an expectant look. He, paused, broke the stem and tucked the red rose into the side of her hair, so that it showed at the back. She blushed, he smirked and they began to walk, slowly.

Ino folded her arms and watched them with a wry smile. Maybe, just maybe, she'd look like that one day. A fat drop of rain hit her squarely on the nose and she muttered to herself in annoyance. She was about to run home when she remembered that Neji had appeared with _two_ umbrellas. She turned and, there, like magic, was the second.

She grinned and picked it up, opening it to catch the raindrops.

She wondered, absently, if things would work out for them. As soon as she'd pumped Tenten for information about The Night, she was going to see if she could be assigned a mission outside the village. If it didn't go well, Tenten might need someone to talk to, but Ino didn't want to be hanging around when the shit hit the fan.

A quick note: Chapter seven and onwards need some revising, due to an attempt to overcome blatant westernizations I noticed in them when I read over the story again. There may be a small delay. Oh, and thank you, Julie (my unofficial beta-reader), if you ever read this, for pointing out a few of those things.

Whoa, I have reviews.

So I feel kind of obliged to reply to them, or at least acknowledge them, because they were all really, really cool.

Lunamet: My first review! YAY!

Mistress of the Sand: Wow. An interesting cliché... I didn't think I could manage it, but it appears that I can. thank you!

Scorpion05: ... yes, yes he will. In _great_ detail. So if you're not up for it, um... --;

Ryu-Hitori-Lenore-Evans: Well, I should probably post a WaFF warning because they ARE very, _very_ interested in each other. To the point where I'm not sure if I'm going to be kicked off for rating. . Stupid Thank you! I'm really enjoying writing this story, actally.

MissPriss998: Glad you liked it and I'm happy that I delivered _something_.


	7. Hereditary Egomania

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Oh, and thank you, Onescape, for pointing out that I don't allow anonymous reviews. I'm a new user, so I didn't realise I had them disabled. V To reply to your comment... The characterization is a problem in this story because, in cannon, I can't imagine Neji having a romantic entanglement with anything other than a bird. I am trying. Really. And, yes, I do write smut.

Thankyou.

**Ch: 7. **

Tenten had actually met Hiashi once before, and greeted him politely at many events, but the formal introduction seemed to be necessary now that his ward had taken interest in her. The idea that she was only worth knowing if Neji wanted to know her chafed, but she understood the formalities.

The house, manor, mansion, whatever one wanted to call it, was overlarge and rather intimidating. Tenten was treated to a formal greeting at the front doors, where she removed her outdoor shoes and bowed frequently and nervously, much to Neji's apparent amusement.

The genkan was richly decorated and also made her feel slightly intimidated. She stuck beside and slightly behind Neji while they were propelled quickly into the washitsu, not so much out of shyness but because she knew it was how she was expected to behave. He informed her that he would introduce her formally to Hiashi at a private meeting later, which would involve both his immediate family and that of the head of the family's... which, due to circumstance, were one and the same. Tenten was mildly relieved.

Even the tatami matting beneath her feet made her feel squeamish.

The men were all dressed in the most formal black. Some of them were openly armed, mostly the ones without various head-ornaments, she noted. The women were another story. They seemed to be decked out in darker colours, too, but they ranged from bottle-green to the screaming crimson she noticed on one Branch woman. She wasn't quite sure what all of these people were doing to occupy themselves, since they didn't seem to be doing much talking, although they were standing in groups. And staring. At her.

"Right now, you're supposed to be making the acquaintance of the rest of my family." Neji murmured.

"Oh."

He turned his head back, eyeing her for a moment.

"Is there anyone in particular I need to stay away from?" Tenten asked after a moment of staring.

Neji cocked his head to one side. "Most of the Main House members and a few of the Branch." He replied blandly.

"That had better be a joke," she answered. "I didn't exactly come prepared for melee." She reminded him.

"Yet you are armed." He commented, guiding her without touch towards the door.

"I was certainly not going to come unarmed." She ground out, wondering where the hell they were going. She didn't know much about real formal stuff, but she was pretty sure that they were supposed to stay in the room.

He smirked. "I didn't expect you to come unarmed. I didn't come unarmed."

She snorted. She doubted he bathed unarmed, either. From what she knew of his sleeping patterns, he managed to keep most of his weapons on him while he slept.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought you might want a tour," He commented. She turned to eye him carefully, wondering if she should be flattered or suspicious.

She settled for a peculiar, uncertain mixture of both. "Would you care to give me a tour?"

"I can show you the other wing." He replied, abruptly changing direction, but slowing down for her. She didn't like that he had to slow down for her. Next time, regardless of the formalities involved, she was coming in something she would walk in. Maybe she could wear _hakama_ like the men.

Of course, there wasn't going to _be_ a next time, so it was a moot point.

"Why not this one?" If he was going to show her around at all, odd as that was, he might as well do it properly.

He snorted. "This is where the Head Family live." He explained without inflection. It needed no explanation. It would be the height of disrespect to bring a stranger into another family member's personal space without their consent.

Tenten nodded and followed him. The wing they finally reached seemed very similar to the one they'd left. Neji paused along the way and pointed out a few places of note –

"Hiiroshi lived there – he went insane a few years ago and ran into jounin's admin. Tried to kill everyone screaming that they were the servants of a devil."

– Most of which were either decidedly boring or rather perturbing. He seemed to be quite aware of this. Tenten considered the situation. Why was he being so... familiar? It wasn't much like him at all. She bit her lip, trying to figure it out, but finally gave up and was content to appreciate it.

"Don't you have anything to say about your immediate family?" She asked after raising her eyebrow for about the eighth time. _Or even just something nice to say? _Were all of the Branch members either bug nuts or unemotional slaves? _Actually, Neji seems to be surprisingly well-adapted_.

Pause.

_...I cannot believe I just thought that._

"Not really. My room is up here a bit further."

Tenten nodded again. "Can I see it?"

"Later. We need to turn back."

"Really? How long have we been?"

"The walk will be about fifteen minutes." He replied.

"Oh... okay." She was starving, anyway.

As if reading her mind, Neji said, "And please try to eat with some dignity."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Neji gave her a long look and didn't reply, leaving her feeling totally classless. She mumbled a vague obscenity and wished she could stalk.

Dinner was, as Neji had mentioned, a family affair, but she hadn't thought that 'family' would be as ridiculously formal as this was. If one could call the light snack 'dinner' at all.

The table didn't seem to have any hierarchical seating order, except that Hiashi sat at its head, so she settled between Hinata and Neji, across from Hanabi and Hiahsi's wife, who spoke little and kept her head lowered.

"Tenten, I presume?" Hiashi murmured blandly after nobody attempted to introduce her and she was too unsure of her surroundings to introduce herself. Neji's look hardened. Hinata sighed. Hanabi rolled her eyes.

"Hiashi-sama," She blinked and looked at Neji to make sure that it was, in fact, him who had spoken. Since there were no other males at the table aside from Hiashi himself, she knew it couldn't have been anybody else, but... She'd never heard Neji sound so submissive. Ever. In fact, she didn't know that Neji _could_ sound submissive. This was almost on a par with Hinata's usual manner. Well... for Neji.

The rest of table relaxed noticeably, if a little suspiciously. Apparently, submission from Neji was rare even around here.

Hinata offered her a smile that was somewhere between hesitant and amused.

"Yes, this is Tenten," He replied finally. Tenten almost winced. It was days like these that she wished she had a clan. Or even just a family name.

Hiashi eyed him for a long moment before apparently giving up whatever it was he was pursuing and greeting her. "I assume you're aware of the purpose of this dinner, then, Tenten?"

She raised her head ad smiled straight at him. "I am, Hiashi-sama." She would be as polite as she could, but damned if she was going to simper and be all submissive for him.

"Then I suggest that you tell us something about yourself." She supposed that Clan Heads could afford to put people on the spot and just generally act like assholes.

She folded her hands and shifted uncomfortably; finally aware of what Ino had meant when she'd told her about kimono and posture. "What would you like to know?" She asked. Neji didn't move, but she could almost feel his raised eyebrow.

Hinata was blushing faintly.

What was she saying that was so wrong?

Hiashi had that look. The one Neji sometimes got before he was incredibly offended. She opted for honesty.

"I get the feeling that I don't understand something here." She admitted hesitantly. Hiashi's expression wasn't insulted, but suddenly, inexplicably disinterested. Or maybe she was judging him wrong.

There was a long silence. "How old are you, Tenten-san?" Hinata asked finally. She knew, but she seemed to want to break the silence.

Tenten relaxed. "Fifteen," she replied. Hinata nodded.

"Did you graduate with Neji-niisan?" Hanabi asked. Her grey eyes were snakelike, focused, intent. She could understand why she was favoured over Hinata. She couldn't understand where she'd picked up such an affectionate term for her cousin.

"Yes, I did," Tenten didn't think it would be a good idea to talk down to Hanabi just because she was only... what? Eight? "I was also assigned to his genin team."

"So you've known each other for some time?" Hiashi leaned forward lightly, demonstrating his interest. She was sure he was very aware of doing it.

"Yes. Five or six years." She replied, looking upwards, trying to figure out the number.

"And you've always been... relatively... close?" He asked again, looking at Neji oddly.

Tenten was unsure how to answer that. Did he mean, _Was Neji always inordinately demonstrative of his disappointment in your ability to measure up to his standards?_ Or did he mean, _Have you been snogging in the forest for five years?_

She felt her cheeks heat and hoped that the torchlight hid it. "Uh... I suppose so. He isn't the most... um... effusive... person." She tried to answer truthfully without offending Neji. It was the only way she knew of to say, _I wasn't sure f he knew I was sentient except for the rare times he saved my life._

Hanabi burst into little-girl giggles and even Hinata smiled. Hiashi's lips twitched. Neji didn't even bother to try and hide the faint redness across his cheekbones.

"Quite," Hiashi murmured solemnly. "Where is your family from?"

Tenten blinked at the rapid change in subject. "Here." She replied, feeling stupid. Hiashi was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his tone was cold.

"I see. Well, is your father a shinobi?" She guessed that that might be important to they Hyuuga clan, that was a little obsessed with linage. Would it matter if her mother wasn't?

"He was ANBU." She replied coolly. The sense of his disapproval faded a little bit. The food was served very unobtrusively. The tea was laid out with much more ceremony, even if the people serving them – and Tenten thought they were civilians except that they had soft white eyes and all hid their foreheads in some way or other – did it a little hurriedly.

Tenten remembered Neji's warning and didn't immediately chomp down the seafood, even if it did look very nice. She really should have eaten something beforehand. If her stomach started making noises, she was going to be so embarrassed...

She thought her manners were impeccable, chiefly because she copied Hinata in most everything. Eventually, the façade of genuine conversation landed on her actual suitability for Neji. She wasn't exactly annoyed that Hiashi seemed to be considering her as a long-term prospect, but she did wonder how Neji felt about it, particularly in light of current events.

"I don't know that you'd be suitable to marry into the family at all, if breeding were to be considered." He said finally, bluntly. It was interesting how both she and Neji managed the exact same gesture in lifting their angry, defiant eyes from their cups and directing their combined glare towards Hiashi.

He blinked under the weight.

"You think that I am not... suitable for your family," She repeated, her voice growing warm with the beginnings of a really fine rage.

"If breeding were my only consideration, no." He replied and his voice cooled to match her heat. Neji's eyes fell back to his plate and he seemed less homicidal and more mildly annoyed. Hinata breathed in relief next to her.

"Is breeding not your only concern?" Tenten asked archly, finally fed up.

Hiashi looked more surprised than offended, as if he hadn't realised that that was the impression he gave. "It is not. In a perfect world, perhaps that would be the only thing necessary," he paused before continuing dryly, "But, since, in a perfect world, I probably wouldn't despair the thought of Neji ever managing to find a woman at all, that is a moot point." Neji looked nonplussed. Hinata was smiling slightly. Hiashi's wife still hadn't managed to show any emotion. Tenten was beginning to wonder if she wasn't actually a well-preserved and expertly-animated corpse.

Sadly, Tenten knew exactly what he was talking about and couldn't find the words to feasibly argue with him, _Neji's not really that bad _not withstanding. What the hell was she _doing_ here, pretending to be the heartless bastard's long-term prospect?

Oh, wait. It was her idea, wasn't it? So why was she so worried about the outcome?

She pushed her troublesome thoughts aside. Tonight was not the night to entertain troublesome thoughts. She would deal with the real world tomorrow.

Instead she nodded slowly. Obviously, not just anyone would do, or she wouldn't be there, so she didn't try to be insulting. "I see." She replied instead, taking another bite.

"In all other ways... you're surprisingly compatible." He finished, taking an unconcerned bite and pretending not to notice when she choked.

Hinata thumped her back and murmured, "Steady." She glared at her. She shrugged and shrank back.

"I don't think he's comparing our similarities, but thank you for your opinion, anyway." Neji commented coolly. Tenten blinked.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." She settled down again, trying to refold her crinkled kimono.

Hiashi seemed nonplussed.

"I think you look nice together," Hinata murmured so softly that Tenten was pretty sure she was the only one who heard, but revised this opinion when Hiashi's pale eyes flickered towards her.

"Did you learn anything today, Hanabi?" He asked after a moment, and the subject of her courtship was not brought up again. She fought back a sigh of relief and wondered why her muscles were all tightened.

She was in for a long night, she realised.

A really, really long night, said the telltale foreshadowing.

NOTES:

Wow, okay, that was chapter seven. Jeez, I'm writing _way_ faster than normal. I don't usually get more than six thousand words down in a day, even when I'm _really_ into it.

Um. Okay, just a bit of forewarning, the next chapter would probably be rated hard R in most circles. I figured I could let the smuttiness go with an M rating on using the argument that the rest of the story is really, really kidsafe.

_The Powers that Be on FF net_ didn't ban the trashy crack fic that Planet Torture posted for me in the days of not having an account, so I figure I'm all good. Besides which, the story wouldn't progress the same way without the dialogue used in the smut.

Yes, it sounds like a poor justification to me, too.

Anyway, a few notes here: Japanese people are usually pretty sensitive about showing people their actual living spaces and mostly keep their guests confined to the two rooms I mentioned, the _genkan_ and the _washitsu_. The former is a foyer where the family displays various symbols of wealth and power and the latter is a formal, decorative dining-type room, except that there's probably a lot less 'dining' and a lot more tea-drinking.

I know of nowhere in Japan that advocates unisexual bathing facilities. The scene was there for other reasons.

I think that's about all for the moment, unless someone would like to submit a request for a fic to me (consider this begging), as I'm just about out of both inspiration and motivation at the moment. There are some pairings I won't do, SasuSaku for example, but I'm mostly good for yaoi, yuri and incest pairings and quite happy to meet a challenge.

Lastly, Neji is supremely out of character in the next chapter, which is probably going to be really long, so please be patient with my limited capabilities.

Hmm... okay, I'm done.

Chapter + Notes finished: 10:54 pm. It will be good to sleep.


	8. Hysterical Ataraxia

This chapter contains something like graphic sex, which I would remove for guidelines, except that the story (what there is of it), would suffer for it.

See first chapter for disclaimer relating to copyright violations and any opinions expressed.

Thank you.

**Ch: 8**

Tenten's original suspicion was correct. The conversation over tea was very, very long. She wasn't quite sure if they were conversing until the tea ran out (very, very unlikely) or drinking tea until the conversation ran out (much more likely, although she wasn't certain that Hiashi mightn't make them sit in silence for a couple of hours anyway).

She flicked her gaze towards Neji and tried not to look bored and restless. Neji's eyes made the effort to connect to hers. He shook his head, scowling, although what he was attempting to communicate was up for debate.

She wondered if they'd notice her making the seals for the replacement technique. After deciding not to risk it, she tried to look interested, but she didn't understand parts of the conversation. Apparently Hanabi's training was quite different to her own and involved almost as much medical knowledge as martial, which was not only intriguing, but explained Neji's strange ability to patch up almost anything.

Neji looked to her like he was focusing very intently. She recalled that, regardless of talent, his training had not been as complete as the training the main house members went through. He was probably learning something. Hinata was not looking particularly intrigued by the discussion, but she acted like a frightened rabbit; totally still in hopes of being overlooked.

The questions were strange to her and the answers were long and conducted almost entirely in another language. She drank her tea. It wasn't even particularly nice, even though she was sure it cost an arm and a leg.

It took a long while of politely watching the leaves in the bottom of her cup, but the ordeal was over and Hiashi excused them. Tenten felt tense, restless and drained. Neji looked a little itchy himself. She was about to excuse herself and leave him to his tense thoughts when he finally spoke. "Did you still want the rest of the... tour?" He asked.

Maybe she could persuade him to use his brain and make it interesting. At least she wouldn't have to face her mother so soon. It might have been near midnight, but she was sure she was waiting up.

She agreed, and they were off. Neji seemed to have some strange weightlessness that she found unusual, but delightful. He was always insulting, of course, but he managed to make his insults sardonic and sharp so that he had her snorting in barely concealed laughter most of the time, much to the concern of the few people they encountered on their way, most of whom regarded the possibility of Neji being entertaining as so slim that they inquired after her health.

He took her to the baths upon her request, and she found that they were both huge and rather intimidating, since there seemed to be quite a few people of both sexes sitting totally naked and bathing themselves at the same time.

One woman looked almost exactly like her, right down to the hairstyle, except her hair was black and her eyes white. She was sitting on an upturned bucket and rubbing soap down the smooth, pale skin of one leg. As though feeling (although, Tenten reminded herself, she could probably see them) a set of eyes upon her bare skin, the woman turned her head around to smile faintly.

Tenten fought back her gasp, seeing the cold dark lines on her forehead, but she didn't look away. She made the effort and met the woman's eyes, returning the smile.

It was about then that she realised Neji was watching her with contemplative, calculating eyes. "My third cousin," he murmured, "Aiko."

They left quickly after, since there seemed to be a limit to the amount of ogling the bathers would allow.

"How... how are they so casual about it?" She asked after a moment.

Neji shrugged, taking her question at face value. "We don't take the concept of clothes as seriously as most people, since it's too much hard work to stop ourselves from seeing through at least one layer of clothing, anyway."

Tenten glanced at him. "You can see through everyone's clothes?" She asked faintly. Ino had been right, but she somehow didn't feel violated. In fact... she wasn't sure that she didn't actually like the idea. How... irritating.

"It's not exactly a gift," He said blandly.

How _dare_ he? "Really?" She asked, her voice gaining warmth again.

He eyed her oddly. "I might not be able to help but see through pretty girls' clothing, but I also can't help but see through Gai-sensei's clothing. Which is worse, because there's only one layer to it." He added, making a face. She'd never seen him do that and thought that it was incredibly, worryingly, even, cute before the horror kicked in.

"Maybe one day, I'll lose that image. Until then, I'm going to need a counsellor." She replied. "So it's only one layer? I thought the _byakugan_ could do better than that?"

He scowled at her. "It can, if I concentrate. I don't usually try that hard."

"Sure you don't." She replied before she could stop herself. She lifted a hand to cover her mouth.

"Where next?" he changed the subject abruptly.

"Your room, of course," She replied. "So how far can you see through this?" She gestured to herself, hoping that the barely-restrained smile wasn't as obvious as it felt.

"This way."

"...Neji. I asked you a question."

"Not far. I can see some... interesting... um, weapon-holding... devices, but there's more padding and silk in the way of ...the rest. Can we not talk about this?"

"Why not? I'm interested."

"Interested." He snorted.

"Seriously!" She said. "Jeez, it's not your fault you happen to have an incredibly obnoxious bloodline talent." She replied, smirking. "Why are you so uptight about it?" Although she suspected that, were she less 'into' him, it would be very much his fault and he would be very much being beaten with the Hentai-Whacking-Mallet-Of-Doom right about now. However, she _was_ really into him, so all was well. For him, at least.

"Honestly? I thought you'd be more upset. I know Hinata-sama always hates being looked at and often goes out of her way not to look at people –"

"I hate to say this," She cut him off, "but if Hinata is your only model for the female psyche, you're in trouble." She said blandly. He looked angry.

"Well, what do you think Ino would do, then?"

As far as she knew, he wasn't at all close to Ino. She certainly _hoped _he wasn't at all close to Ino. Maybe he was just using her as an example because he knew she would know her well enough to make the comparison. "Well, she might kill you," she replied promptly. He didn't reply; it seemed that he'd made his point.

"Okay, I understand, but I'm not as interested in socially acceptable behaviour as they are. I'm fine with it, really. Besides which, Ino already knows and she hasn't actually killed you yet."

He raised an eyebrow.

"... She bought the... holsters." She replied, blushing faintly. Now he knew that she'd gotten them with him in mind. She couldn't just pretend that they matched anymore. She looked up at him, wondering if he'd obnoxious about it.

He looked surprised, but little else. "Ah. I didn't think they were particularly... your thing." He replied.

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Really."

He shrugged uncomfortably. "This is it."

She dropped it.

The door was unmarked, and she wondered why the people here didn't get them confused with each other's. He slid the door open, and stepped back to allow her inside.

It didn't look like a bachelor's living space. It was dark, for certain, but she knew that it would catch the eastern sunlight. The floor was wooden, but he'd found a slightly-stained (blood and coffee for the most part, so she assumed the stains were his) carpet somewhere and utilised it. The desk was piled high with scrolls, either blank or written-upon and there was a frame on the wall, but, aside from a few shards of glass, it was empty. She raised an eyebrow and turned away from it. Her eyes were drawn to the last remaining piece of furniture. The bed was large, unusually high off the ground, but it looked decidedly uncomfortable. Her curiosity got the better of her and she shuffled over to it and pushed down on it, testing the firmness. She'd been right; there was no way it was a good place to rest.

She turned to find that Neji hadn't moved father than the spill of lantern-light from the doorway. He was a silhouette in black.

"It's... not what I was expecting."

"And what, exactly, were you expecting?" He asked, somehow amused.

"I had you picked for a traditionalist. I thought you'd be all rice-paper divides, tatami mats and space-conservation. I thought it'd be more... messy, too. More like what Lee's place looks like." She wanted to sit down, but realised that the knot of her _obi_ wouldn't let her. "Well, not like Lee's place. That would be frighteningly... frighteningly green. But not this... neat. I suppose it suits you, though." She finished, blushing. She was sure he didn't need her analysis to tell him what his bedroom looked like. The word hit her hard.

_Bedroom._

She was alone, at night, in another person's house, in a male's bedroom. What would her mother say?

_Make sure he knocks you up so you can marry him, that's what she'd say, _her mind supplied dryly.

She still felt nervous and panicky.

"Tenten?" Neji's voice was flat.

Years of trust reasserted themselves with no problems and she felt at ease with the situation. She wasn't going to get anywhere _near_ knocked up unless she so desired. Neji might be able to persuade her, certainly, but the end decision was hers. She found that very comforting.

"Sorry. I'm back with you now. I was just... thinking." He closed the door, leaving only the light of the moon to illuminate the room.

"Ah." He agreed, settling down on the bed. It didn't seem to bother him that his kimono was practically dying when he shuffled back and leant against the wall.

"Yeah. I'm in trouble."

He nodded. "Think you'll be getting married?" There was something in his voice, there, something she didn't recognise, but didn't like.

She nodded. "Definitely. She might have you around to make it seem like she's playing fair, but she won't be."

"Why?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused. She wondered at that; it wasn't as though foul play was something new for him.

"Because I chose my own preference over the man she specifically picked out," She answered simply. "I'm not supposed to have a mind. I'm supposed to be the prefect little Tenten doll." She finished, ashamed of the bitterness in her tone. She knew it wasn't true, but she still felt that way.

Neji pulled her down beside him. "Hey, you'll crush Ino's – "

"Did you really have another formal gathering to go to?" He asked archly.

"...I guess not, but it seems kind of rude to ruin Ino's hard work." With that said, she settled on the bed as she might have the floor, facing length ways so nothing got crushed. Neji shook his head.

"I'm sorry that this will happen," He said after a long, contemplative silence. She couldn't pick what was making his voice sound so rough. She knew he wasn't sad, or bitter, or jealous – those she was familiar with, even when they didn't show on his face.

"Yeah." She agreed. "It wouldn't be so bad if he were a ninja," She commented. "Or even if he just lived in the town."

Neji nodded, and his moonstruck shadow nodded with him. "I know. Is... Is there anything else I can do?"

_Marry me?_ Crossed Tenten's mind, but she supposed that that might be a little bit much. Neji had been great so far, and fantastic things had come out of their role-play. In some ways, she'd rather that they hadn't, because now she knew it.

And if this went wrong, that knowledge would make her life a living Hell.

She knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was head-over-heels-, impossibly, hopelessly, _ridiculously_, but truly in love with Hyuuga Neji. The revelation astounded her. It wasn't the mad, dizzying infatuation that most people (and romance novels) suggested. It was a clear, unconditional friendship that somehow got warped into affection and lust. If that wasn't true love, well, she'd take her chances with it over _le grand amour_, any day.

Suddenly, she wanted to cry. Wasn't she supposed to be happy when she fell in love? She recalled a quote that remarked that love brought both the greatest pain and the greatest happiness.

Just as suddenly, she realised that she was being stupid and melodramatic. She still couldn't stop silently crying. Neji wouldn't appreciate that at all. She looked up and through blurry vision discerned that he was staring straight at her.

"Sorry," She whispered.

"For what?" He asked.

"I'm being so stupid," She muttered.

He shook his head. "No." He said aggressively, and she finally realised what it was in his voice that made it so raw. He was angry. She should have recognised it. He was angry often enough for her to have recognised it.

"You're upset. It's..." he sounded as though he was arguing with himself. There was a long pause. "It's okay."

She nodded. "I ... I can't stop crying," She said as though it made a difference, sounding slightly hysterical even to herself. He was still watching her, and, although she didn't think it was directed at her, she flinched back from the look, all out of resilience. His grey eyes glinted in the light as he leaned forward.

Not anger; blind, murderous rage. Emotions were running high behind that impassive expression. "I don't mind. It's... for the moment, it's okay to cry."

She wondered what was wrong with him, or if he was really Neji. It was hard to make her care at that moment.

"Was it worth it?" He asked.

She looked back up tiredly, finally not crying, totally wrung out. "Was what worth it?"

"Coming here; if you hadn't, you - we - might have been alright."

She thought for a long moment. Tact was beyond her. "I thought you'd quit on me, and that having your support and marrying Ishin was better than not having your support and marrying Ishin anyway."

He looked at her for a long moment before giving her a tiny nod. "What did you think of our formal interrogation, anyway?" He asked. She wasn't sure if it was his way of trying to lighten the mood (unsuccessfully), or if he was as strung out by it as she was, or if he was just changing the subject.

She tried to laugh anyway. He was trying. "Ew." She replied succinctly. "I like Hinata, but Hiashi is... unique. I feel all wrung-out, like I can't think straight. I'm so tense I'm starting to ache, although I'm not sure that's all Hiashi's fault."

"I wouldn't put it beyond his powers of intimidation," Neji said wryly. He stood on the mattress and resettled himself behind her. She didn't turn, but caught the heartfelt sigh in her throat when he started working the stress from her shoulders. He was actually pretty good.

She supposed he couldn't have spent most of his life using a taijutsu style that required extensive manipulation of other people's internal structures without learning how to give a damn good massage.

She nodded and let the next sigh escape in a half-noise. No, actually he was _really_ good. "Can you see my muscles?" She asked curiously.

"I can only see them individually when you're quite still... unless I use the _byakugan_ fully. Why?"

"Just curious." And wondering vaguely if he could make it feel better if he _did_ use the byakugan...

They were silent for a long moment, both trapped in their thoughts. "If only Ishin hadn't appeared out of_ nowhere_ like that. What did she do, advertise, '_Any country bumpkin willing to screw a Konoha kunoichi, sign here_'?" Tenten muttered bitterly. The methodical, wonderful hands manipulating her shoulders froze just as she realised that she might have said something really, really stupid. Tension and aggression poured out of the presence at her back and she fought not to follow her instinct to turn and face him.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" She mumbled in what she hoped was a placating manner. "Felt good."

"Sorry." He muttered, going to work again. She closed her eyes and relaxed as much as she was able to.

"I'd love to just go to sleep," She said after a moment or two of silence.

Neji didn't reply, but the feeling of his warm hands remoulding her neck and shoulders didn't waver. "It's a pity this thing's so uncomfortable, isn't it? How do you wear them?"

"The first time you've ever worn a _furisode?"_

"Yeah. I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to get out of it. It took a good couple of hours to get into it. I don't even know how many bits and pieces I'm wearing." She yawned.

"Hinata-sama helped me get into my clothes, but I believe that mine is somewhat simpler."

_Lucky Hinata. Couldn't you have called me, so at least I'd have been able to try and get my hands all over you before I married someone else? _"You don't say. You and Hinata-chan are getting along better now, aren't you?" She was surprised to find no bitterness in her voice. It made her feel like a better person. _What good will that do you? "Oh, sure, I'm a depressed seventeen year old ex-ninja mother stuck doing menial labour with a man I'm not particularly fond of, but, hey, I'm a good person."_

She could feel Neji's shrug. "I thought as much." _Realistically, when **am**__I ever going to get my hands all over him? Never, that's when. _

_That really** sucks.**_

Suddenly, she wasn't tired anymore. Suddenly, she was lamenting that she'd never get to feel more of his lovely body under her hands than she had earlier today. _Why did Ino have to interrupt? Couldn't we have just had mad sex on the dirt?_

"Feeling any better?" Neji's voice was normal, deep and smooth like it always was, but suddenly she found it to be the most enticing thing in the world. She wanted to listen to it all day, every day, to feel it roll around in the air around her like an overzealous kitten.

"Not really." She replied wistfully. "But it was a fantastic attempt."

He sighed and leaned forward, resting his chin on her shoulder. It was another of those strangely cute gestures.

"There it is again. Where do you get that from?"

"What from?" Neji mumbled against her skin.

"Those strange, affectionate little things you've been doing. I've never seen you do anything like them." She replied, drawing his hair over her shoulder and playing with it.

"Is it annoying?"

"No, no." She wasn't going to say 'cute' and stop them altogether. "...Endearing. Just that it doesn't seem like something you'd do."

He kissed her skin lightly, leaving it tingly. "I want to."

"Okay." She leant back into him, sighing softly, no longer caring how badly she screwed up her kimono. "I wish I didn't have to go home. I wish my mother wasn't waiting for me to get home like a vulture. I wish I could... I don't know. Fix things."

"Seems to me that you wish for a lot of things." Neji murmured, looking down at her in his lap and absently drawing patterns across one of her shoulders.

"Yeah," She agreed, and then paused, hit by a sudden memory. "You know what I wish?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you wish?"

"I wish you'd kiss me again."

"Ah." He replied succinctly, leaning down and pressing his lips to hers chastely. "Happy?"

"Cheapskate." She said. He huffed and moved out from under her so she was lying on her back and he was leaning on his elbow beside her. After a few long moments of fierce study of each other's faces, he leaned in and kissed her properly.

She let her eyes flutter closed, surrendering to the strangely gentle sensation of his chapped lips and rough, catlike tongue against hers and the lovely warmth of his body.

She reached out blindly and let her hands feel their way around his neck, addicted to the softness of his skin. His hair tickled her hands. When he drew back, she didn't open her eyes.

Wordlessly, he trailed his free hand down from against her head along her spine until he reached the red _obi. _He stopped, playing lightly with the fabric for a moment before ignoring it and trailing his hand up along her arm instead. The sleeves were large and loose, so he could reach her upper arms before the fabric began to strain. His touch was light, but it left gooseflesh in its wake. She moved into him, perhaps because she was cold, but mostly because she simply wanted to.

He went back to having the one arm wrapped around her waist. He leaned in and kissed her again, running his fingertips gently down her ribs at the same time, listening to her approving murmur.

With her eyes still closed, she rolled onto her back for him and tugged on his collar to get him to mirror the movement, putting him over her.

He took it as an invitation, which it was, and peeled back her collar as far as it would go so he could get at the part of her skin he'd broken – and possibly scarred, to her delight – earlier that day. He got rid of the medical tape with his teeth and licked and sucked along the edges of the cut. She purred gleefully, enjoying the mixture of pain and stimulation more than she should have.

He'd somehow set her body on edge easily again, she realised, running one hand through his hair and untying the end. It dripped over them both abruptly in pools of raven darkness lit only by the strong moonlight. Neji dragged a thick curtain away from his eyes.

"Arch for a moment," he breathed into her ear in a deep growl that left her shivering in anticipation.

_Anything_, her mind supplied, _just don't let him stop._

He slid an arm behind her and untied the thick _obi_ easily, as though he'd done it many times before.

The _furisode_ was easier to open then, she realised belatedly, swallowing her unease. He had one hand dancing along the outside of her ribs, but he'd stripped back the collar of the kimono even further, exposing more of her skin and even some of the crimson lace. She blushed. He raised an eyebrow, but did not comment. Instead, she found out just how very much more sensitive she was without the tape in the way.

His hot lips trailed aimlessly down the curve of the inside of her breast while she kneaded his back, feeling anxious, anticipatory and nervous. Actually, she was a total _mess._ One of his hands had found its way to rest on her hip and the other still made illogical patterns along her ribcage. She watched and his head moved slowly, wondering what he was going to do with her. Her skin was worryingly sensitive, every nerve ending feeling the touch of his lips and tongue individually, even through the lace. Her body temperature was rising. He flicked his tongue over a nipple and listened to her hiss, watched it peak almost immediately, felt her fist tighten in his hair.

_What's wrong with me? Why do I feel like I'm doing something wrong?_

The reaction was interesting, he thought, so he rubbed the pad of his thumb across and noted that she seemed particularly sensitive there before moving on in further exploration, ridding her of her clothes as he went. The way her breath would hitch and she would squirm involuntarily was addictive. He didn't have nearly as much trouble undressing her as she'd anticipated.

_Gods, he'd better be good at this._

He was going to… Her body tightened; her mind went into shock.

"Damn, it's cold," Tenten muttered after he'd removed most of her clothing, leaving her in only the godforsaken underclothes Ino had gotten her to buy. He eyed her predatorily and she found that she liked it.

_Why is this such an issue?_ _Aside from the fact that the result might be an unwarranted pregnancy? _Her mind replied sarcastically. She ignored it. She'd be bloody pregnant soon enough, anyway. She wished, not for the first time in the week, that she wasn't a minor. She had the feeling that sex would end up arranged for her, too. With as many people necessary to hold her down.

Maybe she was overreacting. It happened sometimes.

"I can imagine." He ran one long-fingered hand over one of her breasts almost proprietarily. She shivered and he smirked darkly at her. "Don't you usually... use tape?" He asked, fingering the lace absently and looking up at her. The image of him staring up at her with silver eyes through his thick eyelashes, frost-pale face framed by dripping raven hair was screamingly contradictory to her strange mix of panic and desire.

She swallowed. "Ino convinced me."

He lowered his face to hers. "I'll thank her." He murmured before he kissed her again. It was alright. She felt so nervous. She was going to make herself ill

The kiss was lovely. He was good at it. It wasn't as long as the previous ones, though. Gods, she was nervous.

He lifted his head. "What's wrong?" His voice was all low and hoarse and made things somewhere deep in her body curl up in catlike anticipation.

Sexy, sexy, sexy, her body whined plaintively.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, her mind echoed the rhythm.

"I'm… I…" She swallowed. He'd be pissed off about it. She took a deep, shaky breath. "It's just… I'm… I've never, um, done… anything…" Why was it so goddamn difficult to _say_?

"You're… uneasy?" He finished, apparently not noticing that he was tracing her ribs again.

She began to nod, and then stopped. "It's more than that. I feel like I'm doing something I shouldn't." She should probably be used to that feeling by now. It was sort of in the job description.

"You mean aside from having relations with someone other than the man to whom you're engaged?"

She hesitated, and then nodded.

He waited for a moment, utterly frozen and then shrugged, rolling off her. "Then we won't."

He'd assumed a tense, snake-like stillness. She was quite sure that if she couldn't see his face, she wouldn't know he was there

She felt a mixture of astonishment, disappointment and resentment. _What the hell was I thinking? This is **Neji**. _Years of trusting him with her body and life and this was where it got her? She wanted to kick herself, but that would look… rather stupid, so she settled for thinking for a long few moments.

"Of course, if I don't do this now, I'll end up doing it in a very short time, anyway."

"Because, of course, that's just a _fantastic_ reason, Tenten." Neji snapped, finally put out. She winced.

"That didn't sound right, did it?"

"Did it?"

She stared at the ceiling, refusing to let his obnoxious petulance get to her while she was trying to think. "No. What I'm saying is that the circumstances aren't ideal, but we're never going to get down to what should be inevitable if we don't do it now."

"But you don't want to." He reminded her softly.

She shook her head. "I do – really, do you think I'd be here if I didn't?" _Yes_.

"Maybe you would."

Fuck him and his obnoxious perceptiveness.

_Not a bad idea_, her body informed her.

He eyed her speculatively for a long moment, lying on his stomach in his dishevelled kimono with his hair everywhere and his lips darker than they should have been. "Unless, of course…" He licked his lips and her heartbeat sped up. "You just want me to convince you." His lips quirked into a smirk.

_Arrogant bastard._ But he was right. She was beginning to feel ridiculous, already disrobed, laying flat out on his bed and trying to get over her hang-ups with having sex with him, while he stared at her like a particularly sexy ivory statue.

She propped herself up on one elbow. _"_I'm nervous. I've never done this before." And yet, she had little problem lying on her back in her barely-there underwear on his bed. Funny how these things work. Particularly since her nervousness didn't extend to the way he was eyeing her, which implied that she might be edible.

"Nervous." Was it her, or was his voice slipping back into that silken growl again? There was a long pause during which Neji rearranged his limbs so they were supporting him properly. After the movements had passed, he turned his face back to her, favouring her with the intense look usually reserved for all-out-battle. "Do you want me to make a suggestion?" His eyes burned through to the back of her head. Her heartbeat flew, and the nervousness was very, very different.

She was spellbound; the tiny bird didn't even struggle under the snake's hypnotic gaze. "Okay." She breathed.

"Feel it out. I promise," his voice lowered roughly, "I'm already impressed."

"Arrogant prick." She informed him. He was absolutely on the spot again. How did he get to _know_ all this stuff? It couldn't all be body language.

His smile was narrow and inviting. "Well?"

"Well." She agreed, flopping back onto her back. He dropped back over her, drinking her in, kissing her until her head span and she wondered why she'd panicked in the first place. She was unduly aware of his body. She wanted to bathe in his scent – undefinable and undeniably masculine. She finally closed her eyes. Gently, she reached outwards and encountered a seemingly solid wall of warm silk. She found the collar of it and entwined her hand in his hair again as he kissed her.

It didn't take her long to figure out how to get him out of all the stupid clasps and ties.

She ignored his nakedness – which she was sure she'd never have been able to do, ironically, had they not been so very close. Finally her hands found some silken skin to play with. It was surprisingly soft, and she could easily trace the sinuous curves built by muscle underneath it. And since Neji didn't seem to mind, she did trace them for a while, wondering why he was so much stronger when he was not much bigger than her.

When he finally let her up for air, which disappointed her a bit, she fastened her lips to his neck, recalling that it had been one of the more sensitive places he'd gotten to in the space of the day. It was interesting, exciting, even, to hear the growing growl roll around in his throat for a few long moments. It vibrated against her lips pleasantly.

He relaxed and let her roll them as far as she could to gain her some leverage against his heavier weight. He was on his side, back pressed to the wall, front pressed into Tenten, one leg sliding between hers easily. There was something languid and relaxed about the way he reacted compliantly to her every pressure.

She liked the feeling of his mouth. It didn't matter where, really, she seemed over sensitive to everything at that point. She followed the thought trail to its inevitable conclusion and responded in kind, tonguing down his collarbone, feeling the bones under the white, white skin and giving into the urge to bite down viciously. Neji made a noise that was mostly pain, and she didn't really care. The blood was hot and sweet and metallic, and flowing slowly enough that she could enjoy the taste without having to swallow continuously.

She felt her hair fall from its confines and fall over her shoulders. It took her a moment to notice the encouraging pressure across the back of her shoulders and hips. Unfortunately, she couldn't continue moving down with his arms wrapped around her, even if it felt warm and comfy and nice. Warm and comfy and nice wasn't the right speed just then.

She pressed back until he got the hint and loosened his hold to facilitate the movement. She was trying to ignore the very real fact of the erection she could feel against her bare skin, and it wasn't working. Eventually, she gave up and looked down, inspecting his body with an innocence that almost made him flinch.

She'd certainly seen naked men before, but never quite… in such a state. To her surprise, it didn't make her nervous at all. Just interested. Another body part to play with, she told herself, and herself believed her.

It took her a few moments to notice that Neji was tense and watching her carefully. It wasn't the first time that she'd considered that he was, perhaps, a little bit _too_ aware of what the people around him were feeling. Enough to embarrass them, anyway. How did he manage to be so insensitive?

She smiled. He didn't relax much, but he did relax. She was curious in an almost clinical way. What would it feel like, to wrap her hands around that skin, she wondered. She indulged the curiosity. The skin was softer, she noted, and quite a bit warmer. Blood, she guessed. _So now what am I supposed to do?_ She thought, faintly bewildered. For Neji, muscles so taut they were starting to shake, face hidden under a fall of black hair, didn't seem inclined to give direction.

_Feel it out,_ she repeated blankly, wondering if instinct was going to kick in any time soon. To be honest, the only instincts she'd ever noticed that she'd displayed were of the fight-or-flight variety. After a long moment, she knocked the hair away and tried to kiss him, hoping that he hadn't managed to tear any muscles doing his taut-wire act. He ducked back a time or two, almost playful, before he let her complete the movement.

In the midst of the hot, swirling tongues and tearing teeth and the sharp, heightened sensitivity and the need to get close, press their bodies together until they melted through the barriers, instinct, or something like it, did kick in. She'd known what to do, she just hadn't known... how.

She raised her hand to press his face closer, so she couldn't see what she was doing. Maybe, she thought hopefully, it would be easier that way.

Since, had she opened her eyes, she could only see the flawless skin of Neji's face and some of the shadows behind him, she reached forward and trailed her hand down across his chest until she reached his stomach. Her hand paused of its own volition. She was cross with herself, telling her brain, or what was left of it, that Neji must be having at least as many problems figuring out how her body worked. A moment later, her hesitant fingers brushed his erection, making her bite his lip in shock. His whole body went rigid.

Tenten ignored it and continued kissing him, coaxing his tongue back into action before trailing her fingers down the oddly soft skin lightly. His body reacted; his throat convulsed, his hips jerked, he almost bit her tongue off, but he made no noise, and gave her little enough confirmation that she was doing anything right. Frustrated, she tried again, rubbing down as firmly as she dared, concluding that it would be much, much easier if she knew what it felt like... or if he'd just tell her what to do. She wanted a goddamn _reaction_, and she was sure he knew it, somehow.

Unthinkingly, she recalled that his mouth had felt very pleasant on the more sensitive parts of her skin and followed the thought to its logical conclusion. She pushed his head away from hers, ignoring the grunt of protest, and leant down until she was sure he could feel her breath, if his shivering was any indication.

She paused, contemplating how she was going to do it.

"Tenten?"

She didn't think she could manage to fit all of it without choking herself or accidentally throwing up, which she was sure he wouldn't appreciate, but she gave it a shot, anyway, tentatively

"Ten – ahh..."

He cut himself off in a sharp intake of breath as she licked across the tip of his erection, blithely ignoring any reaction on his part. Immediately, he gripped the back of her hair and dragged her head back up. She glared at him with her back curved in a most awkward position.

"Tenten, you don't have to –"

"Let me go." Blinking, he did, letting her go back to her original task.

"I want to try..." She trailed off, trying not to think about what she was actually 'trying' and still feeling herself blush. He nodded silently. After a few shivery moments of tentatively exploring his skin with her cool, wet tongue, she dipped her head lower and closed her lips around him, squeezing her eyes shut.

A dark, dizzying moment later, he realised that he was panting and clutching at the cool black silk beneath him. His body jerked involuntarily under her touch, which made her head slide down lower than it should have. She gagged immediately, and he could feel her throat convulse sharply as her body scrambled not to asphyxiate. He wanted desperately to grab her by the hair again and hold her there, but clenched his hands harder in the discarded kimono instead.

Somehow, she got the hang of it, relaxing after several long moments of panic. She sucked hard, and would've liked to have meant to do it, but she was actually trying not to drool on him. A loud moan tore its way from his throat, dancing through the air. His head fell back and hit the wall with a sharp _crack_, but he didn't feel it. A strangled little noise came from him, accompanied by tremors of pleasure that shot through his spine like an ice-age. He pressed himself against the wall harder, breathing heavily. His body hummed with it, heat and energy and ecstasy competing with each other.

Tenten choked again. Moving, he was strangling her, and it was with faint irritation that she drew back off him, licking her lips and briefly delighting in the soft noise he made. She looked up at his face and conceded that it was definitely worth choking on that dazed, shocked expression. His eyes were glassy. A moment later, he dropped his chin and his eyes focused on her again.

The look in them was not what she'd been expecting. It wasn't playful, or even just excited. It was pure, unbridled lust, and she had a moment to worry about her personal safety before her back hit the cold floor, totally missing the rug, with his weight on top of her. The floor must have taken most of the skin off her back. She should have been scared, should have, at least, felt that flight instinct kick in. Instead, her hormones threatened to skyrocket. She'd never felt her body react so strongly to any stimulus before.

His nails were tearing at her skin and what was left of her clothing, and she was reacting like it was the most intense pleasure she'd ever felt. Hell, it might have been. Somewhere in the midst of her pleased moans as his teeth slipped and he bloodied her throat and her needy jerking as his nails and hands clawed down from the small of her back over her hips, so fantastically hard that she was sure it was going to bruise, he slid into her and what was left of her brain was ripped apart with a ferocity she desperately wanted.

If there was any pain to his entry, she didn't notice it among the wonderfully contradictory aches flooding her. All she noticed was the harsh, bone-splitting pleasure of being stretched. His flesh gave beneath her fingernails, and she was momentarily glad that she'd managed to make a handle for herself as he moved. Fast, hard, impossibly rough. She was screaming, she realised after a confused, chaotic moment of excruciating ecstasy. His voice wasn't in that register.

His lips sealed hers, cutting off the sound, and she could feel his frantically beating heart in her mouth. Teeth tore and the kiss broke abruptly, trailing red saliva between their mouths. The fantastic feeling was peaking; her body wasn't going to take much more of it. She could feel her spine bow, her nails bite into the already-bloodied skin of Neji's back, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She let herself scream in short, harsh little breaths, gripping, clawing at him. Something that might have been his name slipped from her mouth in with the incoherent noises and she didn't notice.

He didn't notice, either, preoccupied trying to ride out the unforgiving convulsions of her body and failing spectacularly. He fell onto her, breathing too hard and, after a moment, licking the salty sweat from between her breasts as they rose and fell.

She removed her hands from his back – something that took a worrying amount of tugging and something that might have been pain – and wove them through his hair, rubbing his scalp in a manner that he found inexplicably soothing.

It took them a long time to catch their breath.

"Shit." She muttered, sounding stunned.

He made a non-verbal, monosyllabic sound, agreeing with her. She stroked the sweaty skin down the back of his neck.

They lay there for a long time, not speaking, just lying on one another.

See you next time.

NOTES:

Okay. Not my first sex scene. But definitely my first heterosexual sex scene. It's fantasy sex, I know, I know, but I hope I captured some real chaos, confusion and anxiety there.

It was... vital to their characters.

This is a longer chapter than I'd originally intended, but there was no point cutting it in half way, was there?

Alright. Goodnight. Or morning. Or whatever. I'm going to bed.


	9. Romance, Revisited

See first chapter for disclaimer.

And, um, technically, Tenten's BMI is a bit too low for her to get pregnant. Technically. However, this is fanfiction, so she can have all the unprotected sex she wants without worrying. I was going to add it in, but it was just really, really hard. For both me AND Neji.

Thank you.

**Ch: 9**

"Neji." She hissed.

"_Neji_."

"Mmph."

"I don't suppose you mind if I stay the rest of the night here."

He lifted his head and gave her a groggy, _what,-are-you-stupid?_ Kind of look.

"Thought I'd ask," She murmured tiredly. He grunted and dropped his head back down.

It was a long time before Tenten had the energy to grab the bedcovers and tug on them until they fell across them. The cold floor would do for one night. Neji made a tired, grumbling noise under the cover of the blanket. Tenten scratched his neck and ignored it.

The sunlight woke her early, tattooing crimson on her eyelids. It was very, very early, judging by the subzero temperature. The window faced east, which was funny, because her window faced northwest... She finally, irritably, opened her eyes.

She was on a freezing floor she didn't recognise – _lovely_ – almost-covered by a charcoal bedcover, totally naked – _even better_ – and the only thing keeping her from hypothermia was the equally naked creature on top of her. _Well, this is one hell of a way to start the day. What the **fuck** happened last night?_

Before she could recollect her thoughts, the head on her bare chest lifted – leaving her feeling even _colder_, somehow – and, with a the feeling of silky hair trailing away from various portions of her body, she realised that it was Hyuuga Neji on top of her. The idea made her relax, which alarmed her in turn.

His fuzzy grey eyes met her wide brown ones. "Morning." He muttered ill-naturedly.

She remembered. Wow.

She didn't speak for a long moment. "Hi."

He snorted, as though she'd said something stupid, and rose to his feet. Just as she was about to protest her personal heater going anywhere, he grabbed her and hauled her to her feet – or did he actually pick her up? She couldn't tell – and she landed on the oddly clean bedclothes. The blankets fell on top of her and Neji followed, mumbling something about restless bed mates and stupid light and cold.

Tenten stared at him, very naked (very attractively naked, actually, a portion of her brain noticed) cranky, hair sticking up at odd angles, obviously about to start shivering. It was utterly, utterly adorable and it melted her heart into a deliciously warm puddle of Neji-flavoured goo. She raised one corner of the blanket in invitation. Eyes flickering to what lay under it, he scooted closer, burying his face in her neck.

She flinched involuntarily as he made contact with something very raw. She pushed him away for a moment and tried to examine her own neck, discovering a number of other painful aches in the process, not the least of which was the set of slashes down her left hip that looked as though they'd scar.

"What the hell did you _do_ to me?" She asked rhetorically, knowing full well that it had felt too good at the time to argue with.

He waited until she was onto inspecting the bruising before he answered. "I believe we had sex. Is that a problem?"

_Hell, no_. How did he manage to sound so mild about it? She was sure that, whatever she felt about it, it wasn't mild.

"I hope not," She muttered, looking up at him finally. She was startled to see that his bottom lip was torn and he had a set of ragged gashes that looked as though they went all the way over his shoulder. She blinked and fingered one of the slashes. He didn't flinch, even though the sheets where he had tried to cuddle into her were reddish. Since mixing 'Neji' with 'cuddle' made her head ache, she ignored it.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes." He murmured, somehow imbuing the two syllables with an incredible quantity of dislike. "You're engaged to be married."

She swallowed. "Yeah... oh no." She sat up abruptly.

"Oh no?"

"Neji – _what time is it_?"

"Too late for you to sneak home." He replied, guessing her motive.

"... shit..." She said, beginning to panic. He grabbed her shoulder and brought her down to the sheets again.

"Getting upset won't change anything for the better."

"Oh, say it as though you have such total emotional control," She spat, but settled back into his sheets.

He shrugged, curling into her again.

He did have a point. She was just too tired to care that her mother would be upset. At that moment, she couldn't even bring herself to care if she was worried about her.

Nevertheless, she tossed the covers back and tried to assemble her clothing, which Neji watched, chin on his hands, looking entertained.

"Goddamnit. _Help_ me."

He eyed her appreciatively for a long moment. "Use my clothes."

She blinked, but obediently went through his closet, sweat-dropping to realise that his clothes were mostly variations on white, cream and black. She pulled on a pair of full-length pants – she hadn't been aware that he'd _owned_ pants that weren't shorts, let alone a _sleeveless top_, which somehow struck her as totally alien to him. She took it anyway, marvelling that they seemed to fit her.

He was watching her still. "You can keep those. I'm too tall for them."

She looked up, startled. Neji was _giving_ her something? Aside from, er... yes, anyway. True, it was something that he didn't need, but she wasn't going to look the gift-horse in the mouth, so she nodded. Almost despite herself, she wondered what he'd have looked like in the top. He probably didn't like it because it showed too much of his stomach, she decided, realising that it was showing quite a bit of _her_ stomach.

She needed to leave before she couldn't make herself. Really, would it be so bad to wake up to a warm body beside her every day?

_What if it's **not** Neji?_ Her conscience supplied dryly. Cursing its insidious logic, she left through the window. In a way, she was hoping to avoid the looks she knew she'd get if she were seen leaving at this hour, but she knew she wouldn't escape them either way. This was the Hyuuga residence, and walls were no obstacles.

What she hadn't counted on, carrying her kimono in a linen bag and thanking her own stubbornness for sticking with sensible shoes, was catching Hiashi on a walk through the gardens in the early sunlight.

It was a very, very painful moment. Surprise did not register on his face, but she was sure that it did on hers. Instead, a small smile flitted across his lips. "Good morning, Tenten. Did you sleep well?" He asked politely.

She swallowed. "Uh... yes. Quite well, although your floors do become rather cool in the mornings, Hiashi-sama," She managed with some aplomb.

He nodded sagely, looking her up and down and finally releasing her from his pale gaze. "Neji-kun's clothing suits you," He murmured.

She swallowed. "Uh, thank you." She replied, unwilling to simply run away – it would be the height of rudeness, considering Hiashi's fantastic hospitality.

"Tenten." His voice was not gentle and his eyes were narrowed. "Is there some... problem... you're having with my nephew?" It was a strange question, since she wasn't aware that Hiashi particularly cared for Neji. Perhaps it was that he was family and she was not. Even he was worth defending from an outside attack.

She decided that honesty would be a good idea, since the Hyuugas had an uncanny way of seeing through a lie. "Not... with Neji, exactly," she hedged.

"I see." Hiashi murmured by way of reply. "Good luck then, and I hope that your attempts to fix this... problem... do not result in any further bouts of temper on my nephew's behalf." He added as she pointed at the blood on her neck questioningly.

He waved her off elegantly with a bland, "He frightens the servants, you see."

She staggered a little at that, trying to regain her balance. She was mildly amazed that it had gone as well as it had, and mildly mortified that it had happened at all.

A few minutes later saw her escape made good and her footsteps lightly tapping on the street. It would be easy to drop the kimono off with one of Ino's parents and leave. It must have been very early indeed, for Flower Yamanaka was just opening, and...

Oh, damnit. She was never going to escape, because Ino was opening again. She must have done something worth punishing if she'd had to open twice in a row.

But there was nothing for it, because she couldn't keep the kimono, and she approached quietly, hoping that the neighbours wouldn't scare when Ino noticed her. Ino was a trained kunoichi, so it was not particularly surprising when she noticed her presence almost straight away, turning with a squeal.

"Come on! Get inside! _Talk_ to me!" She hissed, leaving one of her larger pots in the middle of the walkway and grabbing Tenten's arm in a vice-like grip.

"Tenten, have you _seen_ your _neck_?" She said the moment she turned around.

"Yeah, you should see my hips," Spilled from Tenten's mouth before she thought about it, and she regretted it instantly. Ino's eyes widened and she jerked frantically at the top of Tenten's borrowed pants and lifted the hem of her top.

She dropped it again wordlessly, eyes even wider, when she saw the purplish, vaguely hand-shaped bruising topped with a few deep slashes that decorated her waist and hips and sank into her pants.

"It wasn't anything _bad_," She assured the blond, "I think we both just... lost it a bit." She explained blandly.

Ino frowned. "What does _he_ look like?"

Tenten smiled, feeling the post-coital euphoria. "Not much better, actually." She grinned, fighting off an inane urge to giggle.

Shaking her head, Ino took the bag with the kimono in it from her, peeking inside to make sure it was at least folded. "Okay, so tell me how it went."

"Hiashi was scary, but sort of okay and Hinata was sweet. Dinner was surprisingly edible –"

"You _know_ that's not what I meant. How did you get those battle wounds?"

Tenten snorted. "Battle wounds? They're, they're... hmm... they're love bites." Tenten declared and nodded to herself.

Ino gave her an incredulous look. "Well, your _love bites_ are going to _need stitches_. I suggest you tell me what happened with your, uh, _love_," She smirked, and Tenten cursed her word choice, "And then we head off to Tsunade-sama's office to see if she can't stop them from scarring."

Tenten sighed. "Well... I was a little... upset... after dinner because Hiashi managed to tie both of us in knots very quickly. And then I asked Neji to give me a tour, and we saw the bath house, and _gods_, it was so embarrassing! They have a communal bath, like most really big clans, but I didn't think that they'd have males and females all bathing together, you know? He was laughing at me the whole time!" She told her, and Ino stifled a giggle. She was a very good audience, actually, mostly because she felt very involved in the story.

Tenten glazed over the sex bit, blushing furiously, but Ino didn't seem to mind that much. She'd drill her on it when she wasn't bleeding. Really, really drill her on it.

After, she commented, "I can't believe you let him... do that... to you. I mean, I thought you guys were pretending until, what, yesterday?"

Tenten shook her head. "Believe me – I can't believe I let him do that to me, either. But I'm suddenly... I'm glad I did." She finished, cutting off what she'd been about to say. Instead she shrugged. Ino sighed.

"Come on, let's go see if Tsunade can stop these from scarring."

The run to the Hokage's office was not very long, even though Tenten found herself to be sore in some very unusual places. Once they were in the hallways, Ino grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards their destination as though she was afraid that she'd back out. She pushed open the door with quite some force and said bluntly,

"Excuse us, Hokage-sama, Tenten let a man maul her and we were wondering if you could fix it."

And then Ino blushed, as, alongside Tsunade's gaze, which was somewhere between entertained and utterly confused, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai and Genma turned to stare at her.

For the first time in her life, Tenten understood what it meant to wish to sink into the floor. Her face was burning and she took a step back in brief panic, taking Ino with her until the blond regained her balance and pulled forward.

Predictably, Kakashi was the first to recover, smiling though his mask, waving cutely and leaning back against the paper-flooded desk, book in hand.

Also predictably, Gai-sensei recovered, if not first, then most enthusiastically. "Tenten, my fair student, you have become a _woman_! Enjoy the sweet, fleeting lusts of your youth and - who did you say?" He asked, cutting himself short and wiping his tears away.

Tenten's skin felt clammy and icky all of a sudden.

Genma was chewing slowly on his needle, eyeing her neck.

Ino was shaking with laughter, having regained her dignity. It was easier for her, since it wasn't her with the gaping hole in her neck. "I didn't." She replied. In an unusual moment of empathy, she realised, that, perhaps Tenten didn't want Gai-sensei knowing about this.

Kurenai's gaze was knowing, yet suspiciously fangirlish.

Tsunade was leaning on one hand, smirking faintly and resting her overlarge (yet rather lovely) breasts on the desk. "I believe that we had just about finished our debriefing anyway. Your mission was quite a success. Do come in, girls."

Ino had the grace to blush and tugged Tenten in further.

When the jounin had left through the window, as was their custom, Tsunade fixed both girls with a long look. "Let me see," She said finally, gesturing for Tenten to remove her top.

Tenten took the moment to abruptly remember that she'd left her bra in shreds on Neji's bedroom floor. Scowling for a moment, she tugged the top off over her head anyway. Ino raised an eyebrow at her lack of underclothing, but the Hokage ignored it and tugged her pants down a little bit.

"Are you certain that this _was_ consensual?" She asked, apparently matter-of-fact, as she prodded the deep marks on Tenten's hips.

"Yes!" Tenten answered vehemently. Because that was really what she needed right now; Neji under suspicion for rape.

Tsunade raised a perfect, blonde eyebrow. "I thought so... but I have seen less bruising on rape-victims."

Tenten shrugged. "It hasn't started to hurt yet, so I thought it might be bad."

Tsunade smiled faintly. "Excess endorphins, I'd imagine." She gave her a very even look. "I can stop them scarring, but I won't be healing them." She warned. Tenten nodded, understanding perfectly.

"Actually... could you... not do one of them?" She asked, sure she was blushing wildly. Tsunade rolled her eyes as if to say, "_adolescents_".

When she finally got her top back on, Tenten felt better. The gashes on her upper body had been covered, patched, so to speak, so they weren't noticeable unless you looked very hard, but she could still feel them when she twisted her head, and it was somehow comforting. It didn't even bother her much that Tsunade apparently understood that.

Ino left before she was done, claiming that she had to set up the shop.

Tsunade eyed Tenten for a long moment. "Is there anything you want to talk about?" She asked.

Tenten thought. Thought about what she could tell her, all her problems – the arranged marriage, the terrifying feeling of being totally out of control, the trapped, suffocating idea of never being a ninja, how she was totally in love with someone else. But that would be taking the easy way out, wouldn't it? It would never help her prove to herself that she _was_ a strong kunoichi, worthy of her idol. Something inside of her demanded that she not take Tsunade's help on this score. A moment later, she opened her mouth and told her anyway.

Tsunade listened impassively, occasionally eyeing the papers on her desk with longing in the more emotional parts. Finally, she sighed.

"The thing with us shinobi is that we don't apply the same logic to our personal lives as we do our jobs. You don't actually need to make... Neji..." and she said his name with a certain degree of incredulity "look _better_, you just need to make Ishin look worse... If your mother does, as you say, have your best interests in mind." The last seemed to be forewarning, but Tenten took no notice. Instead she felt full of renewed vigour and life. How hard could it possibly be?

"Tsunade-sama, thank you. I have another favour to ask of you, though..."

NOTE:

The next chapter, during which Tenten reveals the depths of her obsession and her opinions on Sasuke's sexuality AND has a chat with Genma-san, is very, very short. I think it only just reaches 1600 words. You've been warned.


	10. Obsession

_Chapter 10, rewritten._

_Enjoy._

_-----------_

The next day and a half was pure hell on Tenten's mental state. Between long hours of stalking Ishin-san and hoping he wasn't more observant than he looked (she might have been fantastically trained in stealth and better at it that at least one member of her team, but there's only so much one can do when one is in the middle of large, open spaces) and checking up on his records – everything from criminal to dental, to be honest – she didn't have the time to be utterly fixated on Neji.

Really.

This is not to say that her mind acquiesced to the demands of her present circumstances so easily. In fact, one would go so far as to say that she would _often_ find herself staring blankly at a scroll and comparing the handwriting to Neji's familiar script, or jerking her eyes from where they _should_ have been to follow a flash of black disappearing in a crowd – more often than not, it was Sasuke, running from a hoard of overzealous fan girls. He seemed to do a lot of that.

Not only did she suspect he wasn't really all that nice or, as they often put it, 'deep', but also that he was gay. His shorts were _ironed_, and she'd heard him talk about _lampshades_. True, she was pretty sure it was in relation to his estimation of Naruto's intelligence, but still – _lampshades_. And well, _Orochimaru_...

Anyway, she couldn't keep her mind focused on any one thing, and, since Neji seemed to feature predominantly in her strange semi-conscious digressions, she blamed him. And possibly the underwear, which she was sure was actually a sentient life form and had taken over her brain. It was all a part of Ino's evil plot.

Ishin was, she'd realised after only a little searching, so clean that he sparkled. Nobody was that clean, but she couldn't find _anything_. Not even anything shifty throughout his adolescence. Although the records were a little vague during the parts from about age ten to age eighteen, there should have been _something_...

Halfway through the day, she grabbed a bite to eat and pouted a little, wondering why he wasn't doing anything suspicious. Of course, it would be damn convenient if he'd done something suspicious on _that_ day, but that was just _not the point_. She could already tell that he was going to be awful. If he wouldn't even cooperate in this one little thing, how was she going to get along with him?

"Hello?" Something waved in front of her face. "Hello?"

Tenten blinked, looking up. The honey-coloured eyes and straight brown hair was alien to her for a moment before she placed him.

"Ah, Genma-san!" She greeted. She'd discovered that he was mildly entertaining (and, she'd candidly admit, quite attractive) on the night after the Third's funeral, when she'd found him drunkenly stumbling down the wrong street to his home and decided that a fine, upstanding member of the Leaf's shinobi should escort him somewhere where he wouldn't trip and drown in his own vomit. She'd gone out of her way to be polite, even unduly so, whenever they had, by chance (or, as she was less willing to admit, machination), met ever after. He was strangely okay with talking to a fifteen year old girl of lower rank than himself and had even shown her how to set a timer on explosive notes. It had come in handy more than once, although Neji still brought The Incident up occasionally.

"I'm sorry, I was a little preoccupied." She apologised.

He shrugged, tossing down something she suspected was _not_ kid-safe and replacing the needle in his mouth. "Iruka's sick. I'm _teaching_ at the _academy_." He said abruptly.

Obviously, he just wanted someone to whine at, regardless of who that person might be. She forced a smile. "Oh? Is that... um, fun?"

He gave her a look that suggested instability. "Kids... kids, kids, everywhere." He mumbled, sounding vaguely traumatized.

She nodded slowly. "I see."

He looked up after a long moment of chewing on his needle. "What're you doing lately? I haven't bumped into you." He added after a moment, giving her a sardonic smile.

Well, he obviously noticed that they met by chance quite a bit. Oh, well. "I'm having a few problems." She confessed.

He eyed her suspiciously for a moment. "What kind of problems?" He asked grudgingly. She didn't really blame him; fifteen-year-old girls weren't known for having either easily fixed or especially socially acceptable problems.

"I'm trying to dig some dirt up on a guy," She admitted, hating the way it made her sound.

His eyes glittered happily (or drunkenly?) for a moment. "A personal vendetta, ne?" He muttered. "Give us a look."

She pulled the ID photograph of Ishin out of her pack. Since Hidden Leaf held the country-wide records, it had been easy to get Tsunade to give her free reign and check it out.

He eyed it for a long time blankly and seemed about to hand it back, then squinted and cocked his head suddenly. "You say this guy's a farmer?"

"So I'm told." Excitement and hope bubbled in her stomach like Gai-sensei's dumplings. Maybe he knew something!

He shook his head. "Well, I've never seen him before in my life, so I'd say you're right," he made an inelegant noise, shifting the needle to the other corner of his mouth. Tenten wanted to cry. Damn him and his giving her false hopes! "Why are you interested in him?"

Tenten bit her lip for a moment. It wasn't like she was supposed to be keeping her marriage a secret, and she certainly felt as thought Genma-san, having tried to be helpful, should get some sort of explanation.

"Mother wants me to marry him." She said flatly.

Genma, ever stoic under stress, just nodded. "Mmm. Too bad. Good luck weaselling out of it. My lunchbreak's over. I need to get back to those brats now." He informed her. She shook her head and gave him her best sympathetic smile. She felt heavier already.

She spent the rest of her afternoon going through the files again, hoping frantically to find out something she'd missed. She took only a few notes and left only a few footprints and the sky was orange with sunset when she decided that she should probably face her mother.

Her mother, understandably, was less than happy with her. The 'discussion' involved threats of reneging on their deal and shrieking of, 'how _could _you's and 'your own mother's, to which Tenten would _dearly_ have liked to retaliate with many 'you _hypocrite_'s and 'now you know how I feel's, but she held her tongue and accepted that sneaking out and not returning for twenty-four hours was wrong. She didn't want to throw away her chance of getting her mother to agree peacefully that Neji really was a better option. If she hadn't done it already.

She ate what dinner her mother prepared in angry silence without her usual comments on the woman's limited cooking skill – not that Tenten herself was actually any better; in fact, she was worse – and cleaned up in similar, if less angry and more anticipatory, silence. She hoped to cool things down a little before she had to introduce her mother to her arrogant, sarcastic and emotionally crippled boyfriend. It was while she was elbow-deep in suds that she noticed that she'd thought, 'boyfriend', automatically. Her hands paused in their rhythmic scrubbing of a knife as she briefly contemplated the proprietary connotations of the word, surprised to find that she enjoyed them.

Her resolve was hardened further by the thought. She definitely knew what she wanted now – this was no longer a game of saving her own life, but of getting what she wanted. And since she wanted Hyuuga Neji, any obstacle in the way of her possessing him would have to go.

By thinking of the situation in that way, she managed to distance herself from it and see what needed to be done. Tsunade had definitely been right – the best way to avoid the threat that Ishin made was to neutralize it. It was practically what she'd been trained for.

Smiling faintly, she dried and stacked the dishes with the perfect Zen of the sociopath. For that moment, it was good enough to know that she _would_ have it her way.

It was only when she rested in her bed, closing her eyes to the luxurious feeling of her various sex-induced aches and pains that she realised that the solution to her current crisis was more than a little immoral. She'd usually have found someone to talk it through with, but that wasn't an option. She would have to do as necessity dictated. There was no way in hell she could let them do this to her.

But it had to be timed right. If her mother found Neji to her tastes, then it wouldn't be necessary at all.

There was no way she'd end up anywhere she didn't want to be, and she wouldn't have to do anything she hadn't done before. She sat bolt upright suddenly, wincing as it pulled on her various injuries – they really were beginning to hurt. Relaxing back down, she decided that turnabout might be fair play, but only when you could be bothered, and that Neji could wait until The Day to know.

He might be angry, but he should be happy, at least.

Sleep was suddenly easy to find.

-------------

I didn't like the ending of Chemical Equation, so I'm setting things up to fix it. Tell me what you think.


	11. The Cliche

_Rewritten chapter 11_

_See chapter 1 for disclaimer_

------------------

Tomorrow rolled around like so many unconscious hours and Tenten spent the morning helping her mother ruin good foodstuffs and enduring sharp comments about Ishin's many virtues and various cutting questions about exactly who 'this boy' was. She didn't really get around to telling her that he was a member (albeit a branch member) of Konoha's most feared clan of ninja and pretty much their unofficial prodigy at that, but she could always bring it up in lunch conversation.

Neji was, as always, very, very punctual – It wasn't the first time that she'd silently thanked him for his severe obsessive-compulsive attention to detail – and he arrived at the exact specified time. When her mother still managed to mutter that they weren't ready and that it was really very rude, Tenten was able to retort that it was, in fact, the exact time they'd asked him to be there and that their lateness was hardly his fault.

With a disdainful, albeit weak, snipe about being 'fashionably late' ringing in her tortured ears, Tenten opened the door and stared blinking at Neji, who looked like an ivory ghost in the bright sunlight, which never managed to give his skin warmer highlights – he was just too pale. At least he'd not worn his forehead protector, apparently having decided that a strip of black material was the better option.

He was wearing black. A lot of black. It made his face stand out harshly, and, if he wasn't as interested in dramatic gestures as she knew he was, she'd have said that it didn't look very nice on him. Obviously, nice, unthreatening boy-next-door was not what he was going for. Maybe 'dripping in sex' was just her. The top was fishnet, a common thing among their profession, but she'd still never seen him wear it, and she found it odd to be able to tell where the bandages on his right arm ended. She found it even odder to see someone so pale wear mesh and not look at all, well, fat.

Neji... fat? She wondered, her mind having a little trouble with the concept. His lips twitched. His hair was out again. She was quickly becoming addicted to the way it slid silk-like around him when it was out. The pants were, thankfully, just pants. A little tight, perhaps, but just plain black pants... although he did have weapons strapped to his leg. Oh, well. All in all, she found that she wished that they were not expected to see anybody for a good few hours. What, was he planning to knock her mother over with his sex appeal?

"Uh, hi," she said, feeling as though it was the most stupid thing she'd ever said. He gave her a strange look, apparently agreeing.

"Hello," he replied, a little stilted.

"Sorry," she grinned and waved him in belatedly. "I've seen you in two different outfits in two days. It's a bit of a shock."

He scowled. "You make it sound like I never bathe or something... and I never expected to see you in a dress. It's far too... feminine for you," he muttered, eyeing her suspiciously.

She ignored the implied insult, scowling at him emphatically. It was true, though. The dress had been her mother's choice. Perhaps she'd wanted to make her look like a little girl. The dress was far too short for her, though, so it showed off the fact that her legs were quite long, and typically well-formed. It was an interesting feeling, knowing that he could see right through the blue-patterned cloth, and she wasn't sure if it made her glad or annoyed that she happened to be wearing bandages and leggings underneath. They stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment.

"Do I get a kiss, even if I can't tackle you?" she asked, finally

He might have looked as though he was carved from ice and glass, but his lips and body were warm and close and she couldn't really think of anything she wanted more, except maybe to be an inch or so taller so she didn't have to tilt her head quite so much. It felt oddly submissive, and she liked it better when she was in his lap and had more leverage.

Abruptly, she pulled away remembering. "Mm... hey, wait – mm... okay, _now _wait," she pressed two fingers against his lips. "It's... it's about Ishin," she said softly. He sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "It's not the option I would choose," she continued in a rush, hastening to get it all out, "but..."

He pressed one long, pale finger to the bottom of her chin, clicking her jaw closed. "You've come to the inevitable conclusion of your situation provided that this option should fail. It certainly took you long enough."

He understood. She ignored the added insult in favour of relief. She should have known to trust him about this sort of thing. He was pragmatic like that. "Yes," she replied.

"I'll leave it to you."

That was a greater degree of trust than she'd expected. Perhaps, on some level, she'd wanted him to offer? She mentally berated herself for her weakness.

"Thank you," was all she said in return. "I don't think it will come out until after the appointed time, though." She added worriedly.

He seemed to consider it. She was glad he was taking it seriously, because she just wasn't up to thinking things through properly lately. Her nerves had suffered more than usual.

"I believe that that will still work out fine," he paused. "And will I get an invitation?" he asked, perhaps a bit hesitantly, although one couldn't tell from his expression.

She blinked. "Of course you will," she replied, beginning to lead him forward into the house. "Why wouldn't you?"

"It won't seem like a very politic thing to do."

She shrugged. "We'd be post-break-up friends. I think."

"It's in your character," he agreed, surprisingly amiable. She raised an eyebrow, but tactfully decided not to comment on his various personal flaws, most of which were in the 'arrogance – jealousy – anger' range.

"You might need to, uh, tone down the... personality... around my mother," she changed the subject, feeling that he needed to be warned. He frowned.

"I thought I was," he said. She fought not to roll her eyes. He was more relaxed, certainly, but he still exuded confidence like a shielding jutsu.

"Oh," she paused in both words and movements, only a few footsteps away from the little doorway. "Well, I don't need to tell you to be polite, do I?"

He scowled. She shook her head. "Just thought I'd ask."

They entered the kitchen/dining room, and they were out of time for preparation. Neji eyed the back of the woman working at the bench. She was taller than Tenten by a very little and had the same soft brown hair. She was wearing a long, drably-coloured dress and apparently cooking, although the smell in the room didn't smell like anything he'd ever tasted. All in all, she looked like the perfect housewife – _boring,_ he thought automatically. How had she ever managed to spawn Tenten?

Although she was either deaf or impolite... He decided to act as though she didn't notice, although he privately thought that she was just being rude. She didn't turn for a long couple of moments, during which he stood in the doorway and raised one eyebrow slowly. Tenten just looked resigned.

"Hello?" she called loudly. Her mother paused for a moment and turned with a bright smile as though she'd just noticed them.

Her smile faded quickly as she let her eyes look him over quite obviously. Neji took the moment to look over the room – training, perhaps. It was warm, and clean, and involved a lot of wood. There was one door and one largish window with closable slats and no glass. Herbs were growing on the sill, and he knew that the roots of at least one of them would serve as a poison in an emergency.

"Well, you must be..."

"Hyuuga Neji," he replied promptly, offering a short, fluid bow. It was more than most of his own family would receive. Tenten looked surprised, but her body language indicated that it was not an unpleasant surprise. He ignored it.

The woman smiled. He fought the inclination to raise his eyebrows again. He was not stupid; he could tell the difference between a smile and a flash of teeth.

The introductions gradually degenerated into a series of vaguely insinuating questions about him, his life and the various problems she had with them.

"And your job?" she asked pleasantly, turning back to her cooking. Tenten looked vaguely annoyed.

"I'm a career ninja," he said blandly. Actually, he was quietly enjoying himself. "A chuunin, but the jounin exams are just around the corner, as you must know." He added for effect.

Tenten pressed a hand to her head. She knew he wasn't taking the jounin exam this year.

"Oh, why would I know about something like that?" she laughed. "I'm not a ninja!"

"Isn't Tenten participating?" he asked mildly.

Her mother froze, and Tenten gave him a look. He shrugged, smirking faintly.

"No," her mother replied, putting down some utensil or other with a loud clunk. "She is not."

He raised an eyebrow as Tenten's mother turned around. "Obviously, my daughter," It was funny, Tenten thought, how that had as much of a proprietary ring to it as _boyfriend_, "has neglected to inform you that she has decided to quit that dangerous and pointless business. In fact, it seems that she has also decided not to tell you that her _fiancé_ is coming to take her to the church for their _wedding_ tomorrow evening."

Neji shrugged. "Of course she told me. That's breaking tradition a bit, isn't it, though? I didn't know that Ishin-san was catholic," he commented after a moment. "Heathen," he added promptly, acquiescing under the weight of centuries of tradition.

Her mother's face contorted. Tenten looked as though she was halfway through having an aneurism. They'd have to work on her skill as an actor as soon as this ordeal was over, or she'd never survive an espionage mission.

Lunch was served in stony silence. Finally, after insisting that they follow the Christian practise of saying grace – which Tenten had so very obviously never done in her life and during which Neji smirked a little too much (Tenten almost thought he was about to laugh, except he didn't laugh very often, and she'd only heard him laugh in actual amusement once) for his own good and Tenten wanted to hit both of them – Tenten's mother got around to asking some nicer questions.

"So, where do you live?"

His answer was far more polite than most of them had been, for which Tenten was thankful, but she wasn't sure her mother cared.

The next few questions were easy, until they got to the one Neji might have problems with.

"And your family, the...?"

"Hyuuga clan," he replied. "Traditionally shinobi."

_Good boy_, Tenten thought, relieved, _don't start ranting_.

"Ah, is that what's wrong with your eyes, then?"

Tenten spat out a mouthful of the barely-edible food. She'd expected a lot of things from her mother at this meeting. Asking outright if there was something _wrong_ with him was not one of them. Neji handed her his napkin without looking.

"I can see quite well," he replied, skirting the issue and not bothering to mention that he could also see what she was wearing under her dress. "So I'm not quite sure what you mean."

Her mother waved one hand airily. "I'm a great believer in simple candour, Niji," she explained. Tenten raised an eyebrow, noticing the way Neji began to twitch alarmingly. Not that she really blamed him.

"Neji," he corrected mildly. "You were saying?" he pushed his food around on his plate a little before taking a bite. It didn't even seem too reluctant and his distaste didn't show on his face. She could have kissed him, but she wasn't sure she'd like the taste on his tongue.

"Well, I just know that there are certain... afflictions... that run in some of the ninja clans. I was simply curious as to if your... eyes... was one of them."

"Affliction? You could say that," he paused, and at Tenten's quick look, grudgingly elaborated. "I don't think that anybody in our line has ever been blind, though, so it has never been a problem."

Her mother nodded pleasantly. "I see. And what about your family? Has Tenten met them yet?" she asked, not touching her own food. Neji took another bite, still unsure as to what was in it and deciding to dose himself with every known antidote if he survived the visit.

Oh, yes, the apothecary was definitely going to run out of stock on this one.

"Yes, she has," he didn't feel that he really needed to say anything more on that score, but apparently the woman did.

"I see. How did your mother take to her?"

Neji felt compelled to point out that Tenten _was_ present and could probably answer these questions herself, but he quashed the feeling. "My guardian enjoyed her company."

"Oh, so you're an orphan? It was very nice of your relatives to take you in!"

_Actually, they didn't think it would be seemly to hand over one of the people they enslaved to someone else. It's sort of the same way you set a puppy on the edge of the sidewalk instead of abandoning it to the oncoming traffic in the middle of the road._ He wasn't sure how that would go down, so he didn't mention it. "Yes, I owe them a lot. I am, however, in the process of house-hunting. I've already imposed upon their generosity for too long."

It was amazing how many problems she could pick out of his life. He wondered if Tenten didn't have some well-hidden self-esteem problems.

"Hiashi's letting you _leave_?" Tenten asked.

Neji turned his head to give the impression that he was eyeing her. "It is a little bit unusual," he admitted. "What was it? 'In your own house, you might be your own problem'," he smirked. Tenten grinned.

"That's great news. Wait, does that mean that you _will_ be taking the jounin exam?"

Neji shrugged. "I might. It depends on how many B-class missions I can get out of Tsunade-sama as a chuunin."

Tenten nodded. "I know. It's like when we were genin, and all they'd give us were D-class missions. We get to be chuunin, and all we get are C-class ones," she paused. "Do you think we'll have to make ANBU before she'll trust us with A-class missions?" she joked, knowing full well that there were plenty of tougher missions to go around.

Neji shrugged. "I think she's a little bit less interested in doing things by the book and more interested in getting them done. Particularly now, after that ordeal with Sound left us so weakened. I might only be doing C-class missions, but there are a lot of them to be done."

Tenten nodded thoughtfully. Her mother was looking between them, back and forth. For the first time, she looked lost. Tenten realised abruptly that she'd never spoken to her mother about work, beyond the occasional, "_I know it looks like a scratch, mother, but it's poisoned and I really don't have time to eat_", and neither, really, had her father. He'd never spoken much as a rule, and then he'd had his voice-box destroyed by poison... been mute for a year and later tortured and killed. It was little wonder that her mother had such a negative view on their profession.

"What are the differences in the classes, again?"

Tenten blinked. She hadn't realised exactly how little her mother knew about her job. She quickly explained the system of classifying missions to her mother while Neji remained silent and ate.

"Can you think of a good example in the difference between a C-class mission and a B-class?" she asked Neji after a moment.

"I did a B-class one last week, and a C-class one a little after that. In the first, I was assigned to a four-man team in order to recover a lost... item, for a specific person. It was under very heavy guard, which required ninja-to-ninja melee, so it was classified B-class. I also took a trade agreement, the details of which I won't disclose, to our ally, the Sand. That was C-class. The main difference was that it was easier to get killed in the B-class one," he replied promptly.

"Thank you, Neji, for that enlightening description of our profession." Tenten commented dryly.

"I thought you said you wanted more B-class ones, though," Tenten's mother recalled.

Neji shrugged and smiled, a little sardonically, but at least it wasn't one of those infuriating smirks. "They pay you more when there's more chance of dying."

She looked horrified. Tenten cocked her head. "Yeah, that's why I'd stick to being a chuunin... if I'm actually allowed to continue being a kunoichi."

Neji didn't reply, so Tenten picked up the slack. "But Neji's saved my life at least twice."

Her mother's horror seemed to grow.

"If you're counting the times when your own lack of knowledge would have gotten you killed, you can take that up to eight," he reminded her coolly. "Nine for the... rooftop," he added after a moment.

"You've been counting, I see. That wouldn't have killed me," she added. He shrugged and took another bite.

Lunch progressed slowly, even though Neji finished quite quickly. Tenten suspected that he was trying to get the bad thing over with. Unfortunately, they still had dessert.

It had actually turned out rather well, she thought. Sure, she couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, and it certainly didn't taste right, but it tasted _nice_, which was the main thing. Neji didn't comment on it, so she assumed it wasn't too bad, anyway, and the interrogation ground to a halt.

She was very, very clam in showing him the door, and very proper in giving him a chaste hug goodbye under the watchful eyes of her mother.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to see the back of _him_," she sniffed. Tenten's jaw dropped. He'd been so _nice_. For Neji. She'd thought he'd made a good impression.

She glared, finally fed up. "You know what your problem is? You just can't take that you can't control every facet of my life!"

"Tenten, I _did not_ raise my daughter to speak to me like that!"

"Yes, yes you _did_!" She retorted. "What did you always tell me?"

"Tenten, I am in_ no_ mood for games."

"Say it, mama!" she hadn't used that word in years, she thought. Not since her father was alive. She missed understanding her mother.

"What did I always tell you?"

"You said that you didn't care _what_ I did, as long as I was _happy_!" she shrieked, her voice reaching levels that impressed even her.

"I am not having this discussion with you, Tenten. Ishin will pick you up tomorrow evening – he already thought to supply your dress, it's in my cupboard."

"You – _dress_? Don't I even get a wedding kimono?" Well, it wasn't as though they were anything more than holiday-Shinto, but still... what kind of man would want her to wear one of those... wedding dresses. She'd look like a cream-puff. And... Neji would see her looking like a cream-puff. Oh, hell.

The idea that it was more mortifying for Neji to see her looking like a fool than it was for her to be forced into a marriage she didn't want let her know that she was either in shock, or that she was going to be fine.

"No, Tenten, he's _catholic_. They wear _dresses_. It's lovely. All white and spangled," she smiled, turned and headed for the kitchen.

Tenten trooped upstairs, fighting not to cry. She knew it was just an adolescent tantrum and that, since she was going to _fix_ it, she didn't need to get upset about it.

As she closed her door quietly, feeling more secure in her maturity when she managed not to slam it, the only thing she could think was, _I really, really hate him. _And she settled down to writing up invitations to Ino and, after a moment, Neji, quite sure where the wedding would be, since there was only one _church_ in the village. Gai-sensei and Lee would also rate an invite, she thought.

She supposed she was kind of curious about the dress. She didn't often care for new clothes, but a wedding kim – dress was something special. And there was always the off chance that she'd still be able to screw this up... With that thought in mind, she checked her mother's cupboard.

It was pretty, she admitted grudgingly, in a western, sparkly kind of way. There was space to hide scrolls, and it was smooth and probably wouldn't puff, anyway, but the neckline was... way, way too low. She'd prefer to have been stuck in one of Ino's 'pulling' outfits – at least she could be sure her breasts weren't going to fall out of them. Mostly.

But she could see it being pretty, which annoyed her. What annoyed her most was that this whole catastrophe had gotten her thinking about marriage. Not the commitment or the sharing of everything, or anything so mundane, but the ceremony, the idea that someone thought you were special and it had to be celebrated. She knew it would stay with her and that she'd think about it. Wouldn't it be fun to have a day to celebrate her? Well, her and whoever. The other person was kind of inconsequential.

She reminded herself that she was being unduly immature and that that was what anniversaries were for, anyway. Heaving an annoyed sigh and hoping that the experience of 'tomorrow' wouldn't traumatize her for life, she closed the closet.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was quite aware that she wanted Neji to come and save her. In the front of her mind rest the iron-hard determination to assert her independence and the knowledge that her independence wasn't something Neji would question until _after_ she'd screwed up her plans. Somehow, the thought that he probably hadn't considered that she needed saving from this latest trial in this latest ordeal was comforting.

_Either that_, a voice in the back of her head pointed out, _or he doesn't really care either way_. She rid herself of that thought quickly.

She wished her mother a good night, made sure that the other woman noticed her rummage through things until she found a sleep-inducing herb and slid her bedroom door closed. It was a pity that she couldn't lock it, but that might have been a little bit suspicious, anyway.

She changed out of her sundress and slid on a pair of well-worn, dark pants and a blue-black, long sleeved top. She didn't like sleeves normally, but her arms were pale. The bottle fit securely into its pouch. Weapons slid into their accustomed places like clockwork. Give this up? She smiled faintly, feeling the first surge of nervous energy. Never.


	12. This is Wrong but I'll Do it Anyway

_Chapter 12, rewritten._

_See chapter 1 for disclaimer._

_----_

The night air was cool and the full moon and clear sky made for good night-vision. The inn wasn't hard to locate and she didn't bother dodging patrols – she had every right to be wandering around whenever she liked! This proved to be a bit of a mistake, however, because she ran into one particular jounin on patrol.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Genma's tone was dry. "Or at least in bed?" He qualified with a smirk.

She snorted. "What if I was just heading that way?"

"You live in that direction," he pointed out, appearing behind her and spinning her around by the shoulders to fact the direction she'd come.

"Damn, you're right," she said, smirking confidently. "But the Hyuuga compound," she spun them around again, "is in _this_ direction."

Genma raised his eyebrows and snapped down on his needle. "Don't you have somewhere to get to tomorrow?"

She scowled. Damnit. "How did you know that?"

He shrugged and straightened. "I know a guy who knows a guy," he answered. It was ninja-slang for connections.

She shrugged in return, acting as though the answer was inconsequential. "Either way, the Hyuuga compound is over there and that's the way I'm headed," she reasserted.

He eyed her for a moment, and the glitter in his eye let her know he knew that she was lying, or at least that she was purposely misleading him. She smirked faintly to let him know that she knew that he knew.

"Have fun, then, Tenten, whatever it is." He murmured before continuing on his way.

"Yeah," she muttered to the darkened street. "Fun."

Ishin had left his window wide open, almost in invitation. She tested it for wards, anyway. The inn wasn't very good quality, but a lot of buildings in a ninja city would ward their windows of a night.

He was asleep, snoring faintly. Snoring! She'd never be able to deal with that. At least Neji didn't _snore_. Most ninjas didn't snore, actually. Sometimes excess life-noises could get you killed, so they learnt to remedy it as soon as possible.

She slid her hand under the coverlet for a moment and flicked her wrist, uncapping the bottle, and then stood back.

She scrutinized him for a long moment.

"Tenten-chan, good evening," his voice was sleepy; his eyes opened a moment later.

Ah, he was awake. Well, she could sit and talk for a while. It might even work out better, so long as she wasn't caught.

She raised her eyes to his. "Good evening, Ishin-san. I'd prefer it if you weren't so familiar with my name."

He nodded slowly. "Certainly. And what brings you to my room tonight, Tenten-san?"

She sighed. "Why me?" she asked. "Did you actually seek me out, or was I just convenient?"

He shrugged as though it were irrelevant. "Only men work on our farms, so it has to be a city woman. I met your mother during a run into town for some medicine – there was an epidemic among the cattle – and we got to talking. I mentioned that I needed to get married, and she was very helpful. My father was also in agreement with the idea."

"Obviously," Tenten murmured dryly. "But it didn't bother you that I hadn't had a say at all?"

"I know that you aren't interested, Tenten. I do. But I think you should give it shot. I'm not really the big bad wolf, you know." He said amiably, sitting up.

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" She asked spitefully. "Would you like to hear my side, Ishin-san?"

"Your problems aren't really my concern, Tenten," he chided very gently, as though she were a troublesome child. She supposed that, in a way, she was. She was being very selfish tonight. Very, very selfish. And it was about to have dire consequences.

She narrowed her eyes. "I think you'll find that if my problems with this situation aren't your concern now, they will be."

"Tenten, you can't threaten me, I'm quite a bit stronger than you." Ishin smiled. He still sounded gentle, as though she were just an unruly child. She felt her chest tighten. Yes, he would be. Decades of hard labour. She smiled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I don't need to resort to pure force, Ishin-san. I'm a master of weapons, but not all of them are cold steel, you know?" she smiled coyly, fluttering her eyelashes. She wasn't sure he could actually see, but she effect wasn't lost.

He rolled his eyes and sat up, slapping at something on his thigh. "Damn inns – full of bugs, the lot of them," he muttered, scratching at his leg under the cover.

"Mmm. You get that sometimes," she agreed.

"So what _is_ your problem?" he asked, sounding fed up. He looked down for a moment, slapping at something else under the cover. "_Honestly_," he muttered.

"Ishin-san, it's not that I dislike you, or that I expect to marry for anything other than pure convenience. It's simply that I'm very attached to my job."

He shook his head, distracted by her words. "But all you do is other people's dirty work – how rewarding can it be?"

She smiled and a wary look entered his expression. "Oh, you have _no idea_ how rewarding my job can be. Have you ever been in a serious fight, Ishin-san?"

He shook his head.

She sighed rapturously, and she didn't have to fake it. "It's... it's... perfection. Genius. Human against human when the adrenalin starts pouring and everything focuses on the... the life-or-death split-second decision, and then there are an uncountable number of them to follow and you know that if everything isn't _perfect_, you're going to die."

She paused for a long moment. "When it's over, it's always horrible to wash yourself off and discover you've stepped in someone's crushed skull or something equally nasty, but when you're there, on the spot, the smells of shit and blood don't really bother you so much. It's like being high."

He stared back at her, absently scratching at yet another spot. She wasn't exaggerating the feelings, but she wanted to drive in the misconception of their totally different lifestyles. Not all missions were like that at all; most of them were boring and long and tiring and she had no idea why she liked them at all. She'd only been in a few situations where death had been a real possibility, but she'd found that she was almost perfectly suited to those situations; in fact, she loved them. Her entire team, really, was good for violence, even if Lee was a bit picky about the right and wrong of it.

Besides which, she needed to distract Ishin.

"I don't understand how you could possibly like that," he said after a moment, shaking his head and looking disgusted.

"And I have no idea how mediocrity could possibly appeal to you. We're just... too different. And it saddens me deeply," she sighed.

"It's all well and good, but I'm afraid that that doesn't matter, Tenten-chan," he said carefully, reasonably. "Life just isn't fair that way."

"No, it isn't," Tenten agreed with a soft sigh. "But I still won't do it."

Ishin narrowed his eyes. "I might be setting a bad precedent here, dearest, but I don't really care. I think that this conversation has gone on long enough, and I'd like to get to sleep sometime tonight."

"Oh, yes. This has certainly been long enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ishin asked, levelling a glare at her for a short moment. He shook his head as though he was unable to focus.

"I'm agreeing with you, Ishin-san. I'd think it was a nice change of pace by now," she purred coyly.

He smiled faintly at her joke. "You really are very beautiful, you know," he said softly. She smiled faintly, sadly.

"Thank you, Ishin-san," she murmured.

"Goodnight, Tenten-chan," he mumbled, sinking back.

"Goodbye, Ishin-san." She jumped from the ledge, certain in her belief that she'd done the right thing by herself, but saddened by the selfishness of her actions.

Either way, sleep was a long time coming.


	13. Intolerable Tardiness

_Chapter 13, rewritten._

_See chapter one for disclaimer._

_-----------_

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, Hinata-sama was stuttering something to Naruto about admiration and ramen and he was eyeing the quickly-scrawled, short-hand note in his hand and wondering if it actually passed for an invitation, and if he would go anyway.

He was definitely going to go. Absolutely. Really. Since Naruto appeared to be having trouble understanding his cousin's stutter, which might become terminal if she choked on her own tongue, he 'rescued' her with a soft-voiced, "What does one wear to a catholic wedding, anyway?"

She turned immediately from the blond fox-boy whom she'd finally managed to _invite_ to go somewhere and looked up at his window, which he was leaning out of in order to read in the sunlight. Tenten's handwriting had not improved recently.

"Are you going to a wedding, Neji-niisan?"

No, he was just curious for the sake of it. "Yes."

She nodded and came to him, using her hard-won chakra control to scale the wall rather than go inside and around. After a few long moments of trying to decipher the message on the page, which looked suspiciously as though something had been dripped on it, she said, "Tenten-san is getting married," in a faint, incredulous tone.

"Quite."

"But not to you."

Yes, of course she was. He just wanted an invitation to assure him that he was allowed at his own wedding. "Um, no."

"Oh... I'm sorry, Neji-niisan."

His temper moved off at a quiet simmer. "It is not your place to be sorry, Hinata-sama."

"Ah... oh."

------------------

Neji found the wedding singularly boring, except for that one part where he'd gotten into an argument with the monk – _bloody heathens –_ at the door of the Church over the authenticity of his invitation. Tenten had stalked forward and examined the note very carefully (bending over rather appealingly, although he did have to fight down the opinion that she'd be better off if she managed not to jump during the proceedings and that it was exceedingly obvious that she hadn't chosen her own dress) before being polite and archly asking the monk why there was any problem at all. He should have felt like she was impeaching on his masculinity, because he was sure that testosterone demanded that he fight his own fights, and he did, a little, but not enough to act on.

He noted that the church was quite empty. There were only three people on the 'groom's' side, and only him, the mother, Ino and... Lee, on the 'bride's' side. He wondered if Lee knew anything about the wedding at all. Judging from his spiel on the wondrous nature of youth and love, he guessed not. Gai-sensei appeared, bawling incessantly, to give the bride away.

Ew.

Neji reflected on the absurdity of the entire ceremony, wishing that he'd brought a book. Or a newspaper. Or even some paperwork. Ino, beside him (he'd sat next to her immediately so as to eliminate any chance of sitting next to Lee) seemed to be entranced by the entire idea.

"Oh, doesn't she look _lovely_?" she sighed.

He eyed her for a moment, wondering if she was actually talking to him or just imagining the day when she'd get to look like that and marry "Sasuke-kun".

"Well?"

Ino was sometimes more grounded than he gave her credit for, he admitted (privately, in one miniscule corner of his mind. He would never, ever say it in public or even out loud in private). "I suppose so."

Ino glared at him. "You have the romance of a _rock_, Hyuuga Neji," she informed him loftily. He shrugged. "She looks _radiant_. The whole wedding has been _beautiful_ so far –"

" – right down to these soft, squishy wooden chairs," he deadpanned.

She glared. "I suppose it's upsetting for you," she changed tack at something approaching the speed of light.

He raised one eyebrow, staring at Tenten straight ahead. She did look nice, really. Even if white made her look a little bit pallid and the skirt and what there was of the bodice were so sparkly that they hurt his eyes. _Pfft. Everything that catches the light hurts your eyes._

"I mean, she's marrying some other guy that we don't really know and he's whisking her away so that you won't see her very often," she nodded to herself.

"And I'll have to find another kunoichi for my team that's even half as reliable," he agreed. "And maybe, just maybe, I'll be allowed to be godfather to her children next year. Wouldn't that be a _blast_?" Neji said. It was bitter, and meant to be. Even when the situation had changed, the idea made him queasy.

Ino nodded sadly. "Tenten and I weren't really... that close... until a little while ago, but... I'm gonna miss her. I mean, I won't see her at the administration building, or hear her whining about paperwork or... just normal stuff, you know?"

Neji looked at her for a moment and debated with himself. He could tell her that it would be okay, or he could agree with her, or he could blow off her sentiment. He took option c. "Whatever."

She glared at him, outraged.

He changed the subject before she could start yelling. "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

Ino, distracted, looked around and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think he should. She doesn't look very happy, does she?"

He grunted in agreement. In truth, Tenten looked calm and pale and slightly resigned. They waited in silence for a little while. After another twenty minutes, even Gai-sensei and Lee noticed. Lee looked outraged that someone would interfere with the ceremony of LOVE by imposing TARDINESS upon it. Obviously, this person WASN'T good enough for Tenten, the PUREST example of SPARKLING YOUTH that could be.

Gai-sensei was making a good-natured but totally ineffectual attempt to 'placate' Tenten, who didn't seem to really need placating. She did seem mildly irritated that her fiancé hadn't bothered to turn up yet.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if he didn't turn up?" Ino commented, sounding hopeful.

"Mmm," he agreed. She turned her head and looked at him sharply for a moment.

"What did you do to him? He was fine yesterday – I saw him walking down the street!"

"I didn't do anything. If he was, as you say, fine as of yesterday, I even have an alibi," he murmured. Ino seemed to think that the fact that he had an alibi was also suspicious. Well, he wasn't exactly trying too hard to hide anything. _He_ hadn't done anything.

"What were you doing, then?" she demanded, shoving a finger under his nose. He gave her an irritated look. She flinched and he smirked.

"Not that it's any business of yours, but I had lunch with Tenten and her mother. It was some suspicious substance that I'd never seen before in my life, althoughI suspect it was once a part of an animal,so I went to the apothecary and bought antidotes. And then I went back to the compound and argued with Hiashi-sama."

Ino raised an eyebrow, distracted again. "Heh, you got a taste of Tenten's cooking?" Neji made a noise in his throat. Ino grinned. "How'd you like it? Are you willing to put up with that for the rest of your life?"

Neji scowled at her. "Shut up," he snapped. She looked surprised for a moment, but then her grin got bigger.

There was a shout from the doors, which clattered open.

"Hey, what's Genma-san doing here?" Ino had twisted around to see the commotion at the entrance. Neji could see Genma, who was eyeing an irritated and confused-looking Tenten suspiciously and carrying a few crinkled scraps of paper, talking to thepriest at the door.

"I know as much as you do, Ino," he replied. She gave him yet another suspicious look.

"Somehow I _don't_ think so," her eyes followed the priest as he made his way back up to the altar and murmured something to Tenten. Genma followed the priest and one eye flickered towards them.

Her acting skills seemed to have improved, Neji thought. She looked stricken with wide eyes and slightly-open mouth. She brought one hand to her face slowly.

"O-oh," she murmured as though she were speechless. Her body language was still pretty confident, but the facial expression was absolutely down. A moment later, she seemed resolved and calm.

"Hyuuga! _What did you do?_" Ino hissed at him again, rising halfway as she turned to him.

"I won't repeat myself," he snapped.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." The priest began, looking awkward. "The groom appears to have had an unfortunate accident... and, uh, passed away during the night," he informed them. Neji fought to keep his facial expression blank. Meanwhile, a little chibi-Neji was dancing around in his head waving a banner and screaming joyfully. He deployed hallucinative guards to kill it.

Ino fell back into her seat with a soft _thump_. Someone from the groom's side of the church was making strangled, choking noises. Somehow, it was all too amusing. He smiled faintly.

"It was _him!_" Tenten's mother was shrieking, pointing directly at Neji. Melodramatic, he thought, giving her a quizzical look that he knew would drive her crazy.

"Actually," Genma cleared his throat, "Ishin-san died due to his failure to seek out immediate medical attention after receiving," he checked the papers in his hand, "no less than eighteen bites from a spider," he chewed his needle thoughtfully for a moment. "It's unusual that they'd be so aggressive, but the species is common enough around here. A bite or two can usually be overlooked, but..." he shrugged. "That is all. I have confirmed this as the cause of death and his file has been submitted as an accident to the births, deaths and marriages office," he mumbled, before making his way back down the aisle.

Oh, yeah. Best wedding Neji'd ever been to.


	14. Deja Vu, the Beginning Again

_Chapter 14, rewritten version._

_See first chapter for disclaimer._

_------------_

"How can you be so _casual_? The man _died_!" Tenten's mother yelled at him. Genma paused in his step and let one eye fall lazily on the woman.

"Saa... That's how it is," he sighed, as though explaining to her was too much effort. He just looked more tired than usual. He probably hadn't slept yet. "I have work to do. If you have any complaints with the way this investigation has been handled, I suggest that you record them at the administration building, or address them to me, personally. In writing," he added, as though she mightn't have gathered that part.

"A spider bite... huh?" Ino murmured, glancing at Neji out of the corner of her eye.

"How fortunate," Neji agreed, sliding out of his seat. Ino looked up at him.

"Where are you going? Tenten might be upset!" she growled protectively.

Neji smirked faintly. "I don't think she will be, but why don't you stay and find out? If she is, she knows where to find me."

Ino, eyes narrowed, paused and nodded. "Neji," she called after him. "If it had been a heart attack, I might have been more suspicious."

He didn't look back, but she knew he'd heard her. She also slid out of her seat and hurried to where Gai-sensei and Lee were trying to make sure that Tenten was alright.

Unable to collapse onto Lee or Gai-sensei, Tenten gratefully let Ino wrap her arms around her. It was less grief and more relief, but since it worked in the case of the former, she was thankful that she had Ino's shoulder to hide her expression in. Tears weren't going to come for her and she didn't think her mastery of her face was all that good. It only took her a moment to become composed again.

"Are you alright, Tenten? I mean, I know you didn't like him, but it still must be a shock."

Tenten sniffed, perhaps a bit exaggeratedly, and smiled faintly. "No, I think I'm okay." While Gai-sensei began telling Lee about Inner Strength, Ino watched the approach of Tenten's mother warily.

"I- I can't believe he died," she murmured softly, gazing at Tenten.

Tenten shook her head. "I know. It's... sad, isn't it?"

And it was. She felt bad, guilty, nasty. All of those things that nobody likes.

Her mother's gaze hardened. "It's very coincidental," she noted coolly. "I'm not sure I'd write it off as an accident until we find out where that... boy... was last night."

Tenten frowned. "I really don't think he'd choose to kill someone like that. Ninjutsu is more his style, wouldn't you say?"

Gai-sensei, now paying closer attention, and eyeing her curiously, rested his chin in his hand and nodded thoughtfully. Tenten's mother frowned.

"Well, I don't want you to spend too much time with him," she said firmly.

"Uh, mama... I'm assigned to his team. We have to, you know, do missions and train and plan together. It's imperative for proper teamwork," she pointed out.

"You said you were quitting this dangerous business!"

Tenten scowled. That was so typical. "Mama," she sighed, "I'm not going to stop being a ninja. It's what I want to do."

"Well, you won't be doing it while you're under my roof!" her mother said. It was called putting her foot down. "While you live with me providing for you, you're a minor and I can control these things."

"And you don't see anything wrong with asserting that you need to control 'these things'?" Tenten asked, a little perplexed.

"Of course not! I'm your mother – I _need_ to be able to make sure that you don't make the wrong decisions!" she said as though it were obvious. Tenten sighed again. Really, she was so sick of having to work around this woman.

"I guess... I need to move out," she said after a moment, nodding to herself.

Her mother snorted. "Where do you think you'd go, young lady? If I didn't work my hands to the bone to put a roof over your head and keep the food on the table –"

"We have a spare room, Tenten-chan," Ino offered with a sweet, almost-innocent smile. "I'm sure daddy wouldn't charge you very much in rent."

"Thanks, Ino-chan," Tenten said, turning and smiling her warmest, sweetest smile, "But Neji's looking for an apartment. I'm sure it would be easier to pay the rent with the extra income."

The reaction was predictable. Lee and Gai-sensei gasped, near-horrified, and immediately offered their own beds while asserting that they _really_ didn't mind sleeping on their couches for a few years and that staying with Neji - while there was, of course, nothing wrong with Neji _per se_, they were sure he had his good points and he was a very... er, very good shinobi - would ultimately lead to her untimely demise.

Her mother's eyes filled with something like desperation.

"No!" she yelled, panicked. Tenten looked back up at her. Had she been a sweeter person, she might have let the bluff show on her face, but as it was, she just looked questioningly at her mother. "No," she went on, "you already spend too much time... oh, you know what I mean!" she finished wearily, as though she'd been through some great ordeal.

Tenten hissed.

She fought not to raise her eyebrows and regained her composure, although she was sure her anger was doing something to the air around them. "Um, sure. Well, I'll stay home, then. It's certainly more convenient, anyway. But I'm not going to listen to anything else about my job," she qualified. Her mother looked ready to argue, but then fell silent.

"All right," she muttered. Tenten pretended that the key adult influence in her life wasn't acting like a petulant child and turned to her two team mates. Lee was looking confused, but Gai-sensei was giving her a shrewd, suspicious eye.

Eager to be out from under his overlyperceptive gaze and overly talkative tongue, she thanked both of them politely and sincerely for coming and apologised for the way things had, or had not, turned out.

Lee made to hug her, an action she stiffly allowed, used to indulging his more melodramatic moments. Gai-sensei said something long-winded and profound which she tuned out and disappeared in a puff of chakra-smoke. Lee mumbled something through his admiring tears about how fantastic and wonderful their teacher was before rushing out, inspired to mould himself in the image of his sensei. He had to go train. Or challenge Neji. Tenten couldn't quite catch it.

Tenten's mother sighed. "This is in no way advocating the... relationship... but if it had to be one of the boys from your genin team..." she trailed off, apparently unable to find a pleasant way of ending the sentence.

Tenten sighed. "He's... very sweet," she half-heartedly defended Lee. "and I'm sure he'll make someone a great husband one day."

Ino snorted, removing her supporting arm from Tenten's shoulders. "I believe Sasuke-kun was going to spar with Naruto in the far-east training field approximately three minutes ago, so myself and my camera are drifting over in that direction. Would you like to come, or do you want some time by yourself?" she asked, already moving off down the aisle.

"I think I'll pass on the Sasuke-watching, but thanks for the offer." Tenten replied dryly.

"Your loss!" Ino called as she moved swiftly out the doors. Tenten rolled her eyes.

"I'm going for a walk," she didn't look at her mother.

"In your dress, Tenten?" the only other patron of the church chided gently.

"Well, I might as well get some use out of it, mightn't I?" she commented, doing a good job of bitterness, heading towards the doors and vowing to remove her heels the second she was out from under her mother's watchful eyes.

She turned the corner from the church, wobbling slightly, and kicked off the shoes, jumping into the overhanging tree branches. It was a different world up there – green and bright and fast-paced. She could feel the branches sink and release under the pressure of her bare feet. The dress was irritatingly long; she sacrificed some speed and balance and gathered it around her thighs in one hand.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to reflect on what she'd done to get her own way or if she wanted something to distract her. She knew she'd have to think it through and come to terms with it sometime, but hadn't she done the same thing for money before? She didn't understand how killing someone was that much worse for personal fulfilment than it was for money. Although she'd never been hired to kill someone to allow another person to escape from an arranged marriage, she was sure it had been done. Did the ninja responsible for those missions feel that the person in question was out of line? Ideally, a ninja had no opinion on a mission or wholeheartedly supported the outcome, but it wasn't always that way, of course.

So, the real question was, was it just a selfish teenaged decision made in the heat of the moment, or was it an unfortunate, but necessary course of action given the situation?

She swore to herself as she whipped past a skinny vine and got a thin welt across her arm. Definitely a distraction. Perhaps she should have gone with Lee to train?

A moment later she realised that she'd unknowingly made her way to the training area they used as genin; it hadn't changed much at all since she'd last seen it. The trees even sported most of the marks they'd made in them. She dropped down to run her fingers over a few of them.

It was almost _deja vu_ to hear the quick, sure sounds of a fight. She turned to follow the faint noises. When she could hear them soundly, she knew that it was Lee fighting Neji, and that Lee was moving quite a bit faster. Rushed, even. She frowned.

It didn't take her long to locate the pair, although she did wonder why they were fighting here instead of in the clearing they usually used for training. They were in the treetops again – she thought that Lee might be trying to retreat for a short respite.

She knew she was right when he dropped from the branches, dodging forward. She got out of the way quickly, unsure as to whether or not he would notice trampling a person at that moment. She almost tripped backwards over Neji, who landed in front of Lee, dropped low to the ground and swung his leg around with the intention to knock Lee's feet out from under him. Lee dodged and Neji rose to his full height quickly, using the momentum to place the first of a fast-paced volley of hits, the eighth of which Lee couldn't dodge andconnected solidly with his chest.

She sighed as she saw Lee jerk back a bit and fail to dodge the roundhouse to his side. Same old, same old. The strikes, open-handed and appearing almost playful, made sharp slapping noises as Neji gained the upper hand and connected in quick succession with Lee's chest, face, shoulder, and stomach. There was a final, loud _slap_ as he slammed up on his neck and jaw, forcing his head back.

"Lee," she sighed, mostly to herself.

Lee, knocked backwards but not yet floored, came back with vigour. Neji, who had grown used to such self-destructive behaviour over the past three or four years, didn't let him get a hit in. Instead, he concentrated his attention on his face, neck and solar plexus. After a few moments of quick, sure offence, he dropped Lee to the forest floor.

"Lee... It's just not going to happen." Tenten said. Lee glared.

"I can beat him! If I work hard enough, I can beat him!"

When Lee was lacking in eloquence enough that he repeated himself Tenten usually started to worry about cranial trauma. She was pretty sure that Neji wouldn't hurt him, though. Or, at least not injure him badly. All right – would not irreversibly maim, injure or kill him. She hoped.

She still wanted to check his head. Neji seemed to have decided, since giving up on 'Fate', that although there was no real reason he could logically pinpoint for the phenomenon, Lee would still never defeat him. Since he had no sharp, cold way to point this out, however, he stayed silent. His smug self-confidence had a similar effect, anyway.

Tenten was about to chew him out for being so foolhardy yet again, but instead, she found herself smiling softly. She had the strange, compulsive desire to hug the upsettingly green-clad boy and jump up and down maniacally.

She thought it might have been a bit of a surprise to all three of them when she actually did, though. And the girlish squealing... Well, Neji was now giving her the same look she'd have given a chartreuse and magenta polka-dotted giraffe. In fact, it was the most expression she could ever remember seeing on his face.

Lee looked a little frightened for a moment, but recognized the sound for what it was and tentatively hugged her back.

"Uh, Tenten?" he asked after a moment longer of overzealous hugging. She backed away and stuck her hand behind her neck and laughed nervously.

"Ehehe... sorry, Lee," she murmured. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the look Neji was giving Lee and abruptly realised that maybe he was the... uh, possessive type. This is a polite term for, 'liable to fly into a jealous rage at the very slightest provocation'.

"I'm just... happy," she said. It was kind of inadequate when she realised that she'd come so close to giving this up forever, but she knew that it was easier to dumb it down when she had to communicate with both of her younger team mates. She had to say something that Lee would understand (he wasn't stupid... communication just wasn't his strong point) and make it something that Neji wouldn't automatically regard as verbal spam and filter out.

Lee had his good moments, absolutely. It was just that he had his _so very not-good_ moments. She found that the short silence that had existed just after her announcement was shattered by one of those other moments when Lee began telling the entire forest about the many, many virtues of happiness and how lovely it was that Tenten could get through such a rough time with such a positive view on life. He seemed to be totally forgetting that she was supposed to be sad that her fiancé had died and her wedding was cancelled, but she was sure that he'd remember it and ponder it later.

But pondering, on her behalf at least, would have to wait.

--------------

_Logically, this story ends here. _

_However, I plan on tacking on an epilogue, because it's just so much fun to write. _

_What do you guys think? I mean, shoud Tenten try and talk her decision through with Neji? Should there be tea and Lee + SakuraObsession involved? _

_Plus!_

_Should I take another shot at a sequel? The last one was kind of... really bad. _

_Okay, I'm done. Who wants to help me make the 100 review mark? hint, hint_


	15. The Death of Chemical Equation

See first chapter for disclaimer.

--------------------

Neji was watching her again, and she wasn't sure if he was staring at her butt beneath the dress or considering something else. Personally, she hoped he was staring at her butt; she couldn't deal with anything more serious today.

"Wanna get something to eat?" she asked him after a moment, turning and smiling at him.

"Are you hungry?" he asked by way of reply. She shrugged, unwilling to admit that pure vanity (all right, the fact that he was going to be watching her, too – she was way too obsessed) had required that she starve herself the night before and in the morning and that, now that the sky was beginning to grow golden with the edges of late afternoon, she was ready to gnaw off her arm and that, yes, she was slightly hungry. He seemed to know already, however, since he made a disparaging comment about women in general and began to walk towards the centre of the town.

Lee, abruptly realising that he was being ignored and left behind, hurried after them.

----------------

A few minutes later found the three (much to the disgust of Neji, who coldly declared that he was _not_ going to pay for all three of them) sitting at a European-style café. It was rather odd, Tenten thought, how cultures spread everywhere. The fact that it was a café meant that the menu, as they called it, was quite limited. She didn't know why Neji chose it, since he'd seemed so irritatingly aware of how hungry she was. Since the only things they offered were sweets and beverages, she decided that adding a little weight wouldn't kill her and that she would probably need the padding next time she managed to get invited into Neji's bedroom anyway. Not only that, she'd probably work it off.

It came as a small surprise when Neji ordered her a type of tea that she'd never heard of. It was even more surprising that he commented on how nice that particular infusion was, and that he could never find it anywhere else. She wasn't going to ignore that kind of endorsement from Neji.

She found it a little too sharp for her own tastes, but, since he'd gone out of his way to get her to try it, and his family had all seemed pretty attached to their tea, she drank what was in the cup appreciatively. His irritated look told her he wasn't fooled. Honestly, he was just too hard to please sometimes.

After she'd finished a cheesecake that, frankly, made her feel slightly ill, Lee demanded to know why she'd been getting married, and, more importantly, why she hadn't told him beforehand. She explained, sans the murder. She told him that she really hadn't thought that he'd needed to know.

Lee seemed a little bit put out that she'd chosen Neji to act as her boyfriend instead of him. He was too nice to mention that he had a much nicer disposition and she was too nice to point out that he was ugly and that, in light of recent events, thank all the gods that she'd not chosen him.

Sidestepping the issue was something they were good at in their team, and Tenten said that she'd done it because Neji had a certain clout that he did not and had none of the objectionable habits of the others on the list. Lee agreed that it was probably the better option. He smiled. She smiled. They smiled at one another, both knowing exactly what honesty would have the other say.

Through all of this, Neji stared blankly out of the front window. He didn't actually make any positive contribution to the conversation until Lee proclaimed loudly that he needed to use the bathroom and that he would be right back.

"Second thoughts?" Neji's question, so totally out of the left field but so characteristically perceptive, shocked her into honesty.

"Some," she admitted. He nodded and swung his head around to actually face her while she talked. Since he was so obviously expecting her to elaborate, she did. "I'm kind of wondering if it was just selfish rather than necessary."

He stared impassively at her for so long that she thought he wasn't going to reply. "It was selfish," he said simply.

She bit her lip. Yeah. It had definitely been selfish.

"Whether or not it is justifiably selfish is up to you."

"Thank you for your concise and ever-intelligible advice, Neji-kun," she snapped waspishly. He was possibly the best thing that had happened to her since graduation, but he was also a total prick most of the time.

He smirked in that way he did when he'd been insulted and it didn't work. "Rationalize it," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Rationalization is an excuse for something you know you shouldn't have done," she replied without missing a beat.

"You did it," his voice was not sympathetic. "Rationalizing the action will just make you feel better about it," the unspoken, _and then I won't have to deal with your hurt feelings_ settled in her mind like a stack of bricks.

She glared. "I don't need to be coddled, Hyuuga."

He sighed as though she was being _so_ childish and sipped his tea. When he put it down, he spoke again. "Did you want to marry him?" he said pointedly.

"No!" she replied, upset that he'd consider it.

He nodded as though he'd expected that answer. "What were your options to get out of your arranged marriage?" he asked.

"I could have argued more with my mother," she started.

"You tried that," he pointed out. He took another sip. His perfect posture was suddenly a source of irritation to her.

"We could have made it work better. I could have made sure everything would go smoothly," she continued.

"You did that, as well."

She didn't say anything.

"You could have taken your mother out of action for a while until it blew over," he suggested.

"No!" she yelled again, now drawing some odd looks from the other patrons of the café. "No," she repeated more quietly, ignoring his condescending smile. "I might not _like_ her, but I'm not about to offer violence to my _mother_," she hissed in a lower tone. "She's _family,_ for fuck's sake! You don't hurt..." she trailed off, realizing her _faux pas_ a little too late. "Err..."

If it offended him, Neji ignored it. "So if the man and your mother were the two deciding factors, which one would you prefer to rid yourself of to give you an escape route?" he finished.

She nodded after a moment. "Alright. I know it was my only way out. But that doesn't mean that I feel good about it," she muttered.

"And I always wanted a sociopath of my very own," he replied dryly. It got his point across and she smiled.

He might have been totally unsympathetic and rather heavy-handed about it, but he had made her feel way better about killing her groom-to-be than she had. She didn't really understand what the big deal had been – she _had_ killed people before. True, it was only two or three times before, but she'd done it for money. And there'd been many other times when she'd known that her actions would get someone killed. It wasn't exactly a new experience.

She did recall that it was always unsettling to wield the weapon herself, though. It made her strung-up in a way that never seemed to affect Neji, but seemed to rock Lee's little box every time he had to do it.

She sighed. "Sorry. I let that get a bit out of hand, didn't I?"

Neji agreed with a grunt.

"About before..."

Neji looked back at her.

"You don't really see _Lee_ as a threat, do you?" she asked incredulously.

He glared sulkily, apparently irritated at the change of subject. It was answer enough.

"Look, I expected jealousy to be your thing, but, really... If you're _that_ insecure, I'm dealing with a totally different... thing than I thought I would be," she had been about to say, '_emotional cripple than I'd bargained for_', but she had her doubts as to how well that would go over.

Neji didn't seem to be too impressed by her allegation of insecurity, but, to his credit, he didn't deny it. "Lee's... Lee's a nice guy," he said. The other half of the sentence, the "_and I'm not,"_ hung, unspoken in the air.

Tenten wobbled in her seat, fighting gravity's sudden pull. She wasn't sure which was more shocking; that Neji had actually _noticed_ that Lee was a nice person or that he'd _admitted_ it.

She swallowed, dumbfounded and totally unsure how to proceed. A little Neji-like voice in the back of her mind told her that if she didn't want to know the answers, she shouldn't ask the questions. "Neji..." she wondered if she should tell him about her newfound fetish for cold-blooded, abrasive men. "... I don't want a nice guy. Wow, that sounds odd," she paused for a moment, blinking. "And if I ever did, Lee would still be out of the question because of his pink-haired little obsession. And I don't want a nice guy, and certainly not a nice guy like Lee."

She wasn't sure how she was supposed to tell him that she hadn't really had anything in mind when she'd decided that he was perfect, so she didn't. Neji was sulking, having had his Publicly Vulnerable Moment for the year. It was sort of like an immunization – no fun, but he had to have it.

"I wonder if he drowned," he murmured after a moment. Tenten looked up, confused, but then her eyes widened as she realised that Neji had made a joke. And that it was actually kind of funny.

Pure shock made it a little belated, but she giggled in response. If Neji noticed, he didn't comment.

Lee was back in a green blur, one hand supporting a large slice of chocolate cake, which he set in the middle of the table, along with three forks. It was a nice gesture, but they both knew that Neji wouldn't eat it. Some days Tenten wondered if he actually ate, or if he just lived by inspiring fear and apprehension in other people.

"I thought that you needed to celebrate on your wedding night!" he declared with a good-natured grin.

Tenten grinned in return. "It _is_ customary." she agreed, picking up a fork, much to the disgust of her stomach.

"Hmmm..." Lee murmured, taking a bite of the cake and nodding happily to himself at its taste. "What _else_ is customary? There must be something else people do to celebrate. What else?"

Neji blanched and Tenten spat out a mouthful of that almost-good tea. Was he actually trying to insinuate that having sex tonight was a good idea? Their eyes met (or, she was pretty sure they did. Neji might have been looking elsewhere, but there's that certain connection when you really catch another person's eye) and the look Neji was giving her was _not_ the innocent one Lee was passing between them.

"Ehehehe..."

She remembered the last time she'd seen that look.

"I don't really know, Lee," she lied shakily.

Neji's voice said something similar, but his look spoke of contradictory volumes, most of them obscene. She shivered, sure she was blushing brightly. He licked his lips, eyeing her like some obscure prey animal.

"Ano, guys?" Lee asked, looking between a slightly frightening Neji and a blushing Tenten.

"Huh?" Tenten asked, turning towards Lee. She was almost ashamed that watching Lee didn't make her body calm down at all. She recalled someone telling her that hormones were pretty unselective once they were roused, but she hadn't thought that they were _this_ unselective.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking from one to the other. Neji was once again staring disinterestedly out the window and Tenten wasn't really sure he was looking at them, even though she could feel the weight of his gaze.

"Yes. Hey – it's Sakura," she said, finally realizing what Neji was looking at and feeling no small surge of jealousy herself.

"Ehh?" Lee's eyes sparkled with determination. "This time I will invite her out with me... and if I can catch up to her in twenty steps, she will accept!" he crowed, springing from his seat and clattering out of the café.

Tenten stared after him for a moment or two until she heard the clinking of money hitting the tabletop. By the time she'd gotten her head turned around Neji was standing up.

"It's about time we got out of here," she agreed, offering him an inviting look.

He nodded succinctly and led the way.

"Where to?" he asked.

Tenten grinned. "How about the church?"

---------

And thus dies chemical equation. Please send me as much feedback as you can give. I would greatly appreciate it.


	16. NOTE on SEQUEL

**NOTE:**

Hi, guys. I'm sorry if any of you were expecting an epilogue's epilogue, or something, because this is mostly just me ranting and general irritation.

I've tried writing a sequel to Chemical Equation twice before, and… it just hasn't worked out, as those of you who read some of the first one might already have noticed.

So I've tried giving it the same tone, and I've tried making it more serious (I'd say "angsty", but I think the word has certain negative connotations involving poor(er) writing and a lack of coherent characterization). So this time round, it's fluff for teh win.

This is just basically a note to say, look out for the sequel later this year, or, hell, this month, if I'm obsessive enough about it, because I finally have a plot outline that I, at least, am happy with for the moment.

After all, third time's the charm, right?

XD

- Yasmyn Yaslanna, your friendly neighborhood authoress.


	17. NOTE II

Hello again people

I'm just letting anybody who wants to know that the SEQUEL to Chemical Equation is now being slowly written and posted, and is titled, "BALANCING THE EQUATION".

XXX

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Authoress


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